Court Opinion

ID: 9544309
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:54:27.019067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:40.825789
License: Public Domain

WALSH, Justice,
with whom CHRISTIE, Chief Justice, joins,
dissenting.
In Davis v. State, DeLSupr., 400 A.2d 292 (1979), this Court faced the same question presented here: May a defendant be separately sentenced for robbery first degree, in violation of 11 Del.C. Section 832(a)(2) and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, in violation of 11 Del.C. Section 1447? The Davis Court, applying recognized principles of statutory construction, determined that question in the negative. Seven years later a majority of this Court, applying the same principles, comes to the opposite conclusion and expressly reverses Davis. Because I cannot reconcile this result with the principle of stare decisis, I respectfully dissent.
Review of a double jeopardy claim directed against a criminal statute which appears to permit cumulative sentencing involves a two step analysis: (1) Cumulative punishment for the same offense is not authorized in the absence of “a clear indication of contrary legislative intent” Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 692, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 1438, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980) and (2) where the legislative intent is not clear a constitutional analysis under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment is required. Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359, 368, 103 S.Ct. 673, 679, 74 L.Ed.2d 535 (1983). Both the Davis Court and the majority here have confined their rulings to a search for statutory intent without proceeding to consider constitutional grounds. In short, both Courts applied the same test with exactly opposite results. Not only does the majority reach a contrary conclu*905sion concerning legislative intent, it does so under its stated standard of discerning “the clearly expressed intent of the General Assembly.” Although the majority appears to fault the Davis Court for not conducting “a Blockburger-style analysis” in order to address constitutional arguments, such an analysis was neither required nor justified under the circumstances. This Court has consistently declined to decide a question on constitutional grounds if it may be resolved on statutory grounds. State v. Cahill, Del.Supr., 443 A.2d 497, 498 (1982). Indeed, the majority’s own analysis here eschews constitutional review in reaching its ultimate determination of clear legislative intent.
I find nothing which has occurred in the last seven years which would justify a ruling by this Court that the “clear legislative intent” as to cumulative sentences was different than that found by this Court in Davis. The sparse legislative record which was reviewed in Davis has not been enlarged here.1 Nor has subsequent federal decisional law as exemplified by Missouri v. Hunter, and Albernaz v. United States, 450 U.S. 333, 101 S.Ct. 1137, 67 L.Ed.2d 275 (1981) weakened the statutory intent approach employed in Davis. The federal decisions did require this Court to reexamine its holdings in Hunter v. State, Del.Supr., 420 A.2d 119 (1980) and Evans v. State, Del.Supr., 420 A.2d 1186 (1980), but only because the double jeopardy claims in those cases had been decided on constitutional, not statutory, grounds. It is clear that this Court’s decision in Davis remained unaffected by the developing federal decisions because the final interpretation of state statutory law is exclusively within the province of this Court, absent the entanglement of federal constitutional issues.
This case presents a clear question of state law interpretation and the majority opinion has thoroughly examined the obvious statutory conflict. If we were writing on a clean slate in the search for legislative intent, the majority’s reasoning and crafts-manlike analysis might be persuasive. The need for stability and predictability in the law, however, militates against the result reached by the majority.
I would reverse the judgment of the Superior Court as contrary to the clear holding of Davis. Accordingly, I dissent.
ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR REARGUMENT
Although the foregoing opinions were issued upon reargument after an initial affirmance of the trial court, the defendant now raises for the first time the question of retroactive application of the majority’s opinion. Clearly, this is a matter which defense counsel should have anticipated as a natural implication of overruling Davis. However, to accommodate the defendant’s belated concern, the matter is remanded to the Superior Court for re-sentencing in light of defendant's retroac-tivity claims. Such questions should be considered by the trial court in the first instance. Supreme Court Rule 8. On the foregoing basis the Court unanimously orders that the Motion for Reargument be, and the same hereby is,
DENIED.

. Although the point is not determinative on the question of legislative intent, it is worth noting that the General Assembly has not acted in the intervening years to modify the statute to achieve what the majority views as “clear legislative intent.” By contrast, following this Court’s decision in Smith v. State, Del.Supr., 412 A.2d 331, 332 (1980), holding that the legislature apparently did not intend that the mandatory prison term provided for a conviction of robbery first degree under 11 Del.C. Sec. 832(c) be extended to include an attempt to commit that crime, the legislative response was to amend Section 832 to extend mandatory imprisonment to attempted robbery. 63 Del. Laws C. 329 (codified at 11 Del.C. § 832(d)).