Clark v. State

CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedJanuary 14, 2020
Docket114, 2019
StatusPublished

This text of Clark v. State (Clark v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. State, (Del. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

JEFFREY CLARK, § § No. 114, 2019 Defendant Below, § Appellant § Court Below: Superior Court § of the State of Delaware v. § § Cr. ID: N1503017606A STATE OF DELAWARE, § § Plaintiff Below, § Appellee. §

Submitted: November 6, 2019 Decided: January 14, 2020

Before VALIHURA, VAUGHN, and TRAYNOR, Justices.

Upon appeal from Superior Court of the State of Delaware. AFFIRMED.

Christopher S. Koyste, Esquire, Wilmington, Delaware, Counsel for Appellant.

Abby L. Adams, Esquire, Department of Justice, Wilmington, Delaware, Counsel for Appellee.

TRAYNOR, Justice: Jeffrey Clark and two of his associates, Rayshaun Johnson and Christopher

Harris, were indicted on charges of murder in the first degree, conspiracy in the first

degree, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession

of a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, for their roles in the shooting death of

Theodore “Teddy” Jackson. After Harris pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and

entered into a cooperation agreement with the State, the Superior Court granted

Clark’s request that his case be tried separately from Johnson’s. Johnson’s case went

to trial first, and a jury convicted him on all indicted charges. Then, after a nine-day

trial in September 2017, a jury found Clark guilty of attempted assault in the second

degree—purportedly a lesser-included offense of murder in the first degree, and

conspiracy in the second degree, a lesser included offense of conspiracy in the first

degree.

Before he was sentenced, Clark moved the Superior Court “to enter a

judgment of acquittal for the convicted counts of attempted assault in the second

degree, reducing the counts of conviction to counts supported by the evidence; that

2 is, attempted assault third degree and conspiracy third degree.”1 The court denied

Clark’s motion and eventually sentenced Clark to four years’ incarceration, followed

by descending levels of supervision.

In this direct appeal, Clark makes a single claim—that despite the inescapable

fact that Teddy Jackson, the only victim identified in the indictment, is dead, the

State failed to present sufficient evidence at trial to support the jury’s finding that

Clark, at the time of the alleged crime, intended to cause “serious physical injury.”

And because intent to cause “serious physical injury,” as opposed to mere “physical

injury,” is an element of attempted assault in the second degree, according to Clark,

the Superior Court erred when it denied his post-trial motion for judgment of

acquittal. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that Clark’s claim is without

merit, and we therefore affirm the Superior Court’s judgments of conviction.

Facts and Procedural History

On April 3, 2014, a young man approached Doris Reyes, the mother of one of

Clark’s children, and delivered a threatening message intended for Clark. The young

1 App. to Appellant’s Opening Br. A334 (hereinafter “A__”). For the purpose of this appeal, the relevant difference between attempted assault in the second degree and attempted assault in the third degree is the seriousness of the intended injury to the victim. “Serious physical injury” must be intended to support the second degree assault charge, while mere “physical injury” is required for third degree assault. Attempted assault in the second degree is a felony, while attempted assault in the third degree is a misdemeanor. And because conspiracy in the second degree applies to the promotion or facilitation of a felony, a reduction of Clark’s attempted assault conviction to a misdemeanor level would dictate a commensurate reduction of his conspiracy conviction.

3 man referred to a “situation he had with [Clark] years ago” and told Reyes and her

daughter, “When you see Jeff, say goodbye to him because that will be the last time

you see him.”2 Reyes relayed the message to Clark by telephone, who became

aggravated and upset upon hearing this news.3 Clark was with co-defendants, Harris

and Johnson, when he received the call from Reyes describing the threatening

encounter.

Harris testified that Clark appeared upset and irate, and wanted to find the man

who made the threat so that he could “do something to him.”4 Clark believed that

the young man who made the threat was named Kyle, and Clark “wanted to fight”

him.5 Clark told Reyes “not to worry,” assuring her that “he wasn’t going to let

anything happen” to her or their child.6 Clark explained that, “[i]f he had to take

him in the middle of the street, fight him, then he would.”7 Reyes informed Clark

that Kyle was wearing “Army fatigue pants and a black shirt, or black jacket.”8

Thereafter, Clark “took off running, looking for Kyle.”9

2 A128. 3 Id. 4 A139–40. 5 A261. 6 A128. 7 A130. 8 A261–62. 9 A262.

4 Clark, Johnson, and Harris spent the evening searching for Kyle. During their

pursuit, they encountered Marcel Swanson at a nearby corner store. Clark asked

Swanson about Kyle and explained that he had disrespected someone in his family.

Swanson described Clark’s demeanor during their interaction as “angry” and “real

aggressive.”10 Swanson also noted that Clark was shirtless, wearing “black jeans

and. . . red shoes,”11 with a gun tucked in his waistband.

The three men left the store in a car driven by Bryshere Giles and continued

searching for Kyle. When they saw someone matching Kyle’s description, they

parked the car. Next, according to Harris’s testimony, Johnson and Clark exited the

car wielding firearms. Shortly thereafter, Harris heard approximately ten gunshots,

then Clark—still sporting black pants and red shoes—and Johnson “ran back to the

car.”12 Upon their return, they told Giles to drive away and said “we got him.”13 The

victim was actually a man named Teddy Jackson, who died that evening as the result

of multiple gunshot wounds.

Marcel Swanson’s testimony corroborated Harris’s in several material

respects. Swanson was also at the corner store, when he saw Clark, Johnson, and

10 Id. 11 A60. 12 A141. 13 A141.

5 Harris “hop in the car and take off.”14 Swanson left the store and walked in a

southerly direction on Van Buren Street. He then heard several gunshots and, in

short order, saw Clark and Johnson “running towards the car,”15 which left the scene.

As Swanson continued to walk to his home, he saw “a man on the ground”16 and

“smelled the gun powder.”17

Five or so minutes after Swanson heard the gunshots, Johnson called him on

the phone. Swanson recounted for the jury what Johnson had to say:

He tells me, remember the guy Kyle that we was looking for? Well, I think we found him. I think we got him. 18

During that conversation and again later that evening, Swanson informed

Johnson that the person he saw on the ground “could have been the wrong person.”19

Swanson was right—Clark and Johnson got the wrong person. It was Teddy

Jackson—not “Kyle”—who the police found lying in the street with multiple

gunshot wounds. They also found two different types of numerous shell casings.

Clark testified in his own defense. Although he acknowledged that, after

Reyes relayed Kyle’s threat, he “wanted to fight Kyle,”20 he attempted to pin the

shooting of Jackson on Johnson and Harris. Clark told the jury that, after dropping

14 A61. 15 A62. 16 Id. 17 A63. 18 Id. 19 Id. 20 A261. 6 off two of his children at Johnson’s mother’s house, he got into Bryshere Giles’ car

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Related

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Graham v. State
171 A.3d 573 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2017)

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Clark v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-state-del-2020.