Holland v. State

158 A.3d 452, 2017 WL 1076391, 2017 Del. LEXIS 122
Supreme Court of Delaware·Decided March 22, 2017·No. 44, 2016·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

STRINE, Chief Justice:

This appeal addresses the legal issues raised by the second of two criminal trials over a single incident where Djavon Holland — the defendant — allegedly burst into *456 an apartment, brandished a gun, and demanded money. A brawl unfolded in which Holland and the apartment’s occupants— Vanessa Grier, Nemesis Moore, and Semaj Deshields — were all injured. Holland was indicted before the first trial for two counts of Assault First Degree along with twelve other related charges. After trial, Holland was acquitted on both of the Assault First Degree counts, but the jury was unable to reach a conclusion on the other charges.

The various issues in this appeal stem from the State’s decision to reindict Holland. The second indictment included both the charges on which the first jury hung, and, for the first time, three counts of Attempted Robbery First Degree. After the second trial, the jury convicted Holland of two of the three counts of Attempted Robbery and the majority of the other charges from the second indictment. On appeal, Holland makes a series of arguments assailing the new charges in the second indictment, and attacks the second trial as a whole on Sixth Amendment grounds.

Holland challenges the State’s ability to subject him to the charges in the second indictment that were not in the first indictment on three grounds. First, he argues that the Superior Court incorrectly interpreted 11 Del. C. § 208. He contends the statute in fact bars his indictment for Attempted Robbery. Second, he argues that the State was estopped from proving all the elements of Attempted Robbery of Moore in the second trial. Finally, and most convincingly, he argues that the new charges constituted vindictive prosecution. We reject his first two arguments but find favor with the third.

As to Holland’s argument that 11 Del. C. § 208 barred the State from indicting him on charges not in the first indictment, the Superior Court interpreted § 208(l)(a), which bars new prosecutions for offenses a defendant could have been convicted of in an earlier prosecution that resulted in acquittal, to bar the second indictment for offenses that were lesser included offenses of the counts previously indicted and therefore that the defendant could have been convicted of at his first trial. The Superior Court then applied § 208(l)(b)(l) to allow the new charges because Attempted Robbery is not a lesser included charge of Assault, and Attempted Robbery met § 208(l)(b)(l)’s requirements that the new charge require proof of facts not required by Assault and was intended to prevent a substantially different sort of crime than Assault. The Superior Court’s interpretation of the statute makes more sense than Holland’s interpretation. Holland’s broader interpretation of § 208(l)(a) would, in essence, bar any new indictment on charges that conceivably could have been brought in the first indictment. That interpretation undercuts the choices the General Assembly made in enacting § 208 and deprives § 208(l)(b)(l) of any real use.

We decline to consider Holland’s estop-pel argument because he did not properly present it before the Superior Court and the Superior Court’s failure to separately assess the case for these estoppel claims was not plainly erroneous. If we did take up Holland’s argument that the State cannot prove all the elements of Attempted Robbery because it is estopped from arguing that Holland caused Moore injury or that Holland possessed a firearm, because Holland was acquitted by the first jury of Assault in the First Degree and the related Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, though, we would do so within the framework of 11 Del. C. § 208. Using the statute, we would find that Holland’s acquittals at the first trial did not bar his indictment for Attempted Robbery because they fit within *457 § 208(l)(b)(l)’s exception and do not run afoul of § 208(2).

By contrast, we are persuaded by Holland’s argument that the new indictment for Attempted Robbery constitutes vindictive prosecution. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that recharging a defendant with different charges after a first, inconclusive trial poses a “realistic likelihood” of vindictiveness and due process “requires that a defendant be freed of apprehension” of “retaliatory motivation” on the part of prosecutors. 1 Thus, when the State brings different, similarly weighty charges at a second trial, a defendant is entitled to a presumption of vindictive prosecution and does not have to prove that a prosecutor was actually improperly motivated in bringing new charges. The State may overcome that presumption by showing legitimate reasons why it was unable to present the new charges at the first trial. Before and during the first trial, the State had abundant evidence that Holland’s likely motivation for entering the apartment was that he believed Moore was a drug dealer who he could rob of cash and drugs. Even if Moore testified he was not currently selling marijuana at the time Holland entered the apartment, as the State expected he would at the first trial, the evidence available to the State such as marijuana and baggies found in Moore’s bedroom after the melee, Moore’s “weed man” nickname, Holland’s text messages suggesting he was targeting Moore’s apartment for drugs and drug money, and, indeed, Moore’s own statement after the incident that it was possible his apartment was targeted because of his reputation, all still would have easily supported an Attempted Robbery charge. Indeed, although the State contests that the issue was fairly raised, it conceded at oral argument that the presumption of vindictive prosecution would apply on these facts.

The State argues that the only reason it recharged Holland was that Moore’s testimony that he was a drug dealer at the time of the incident was the critical piece establishing the necessary motive for Holland to rob the apartment. But, nothing in the State’s original theory at the first trial suggested Holland was just wandering Moore’s neighborhood randomly and just happened to pick Moore’s apartment to enter because the number on the door inspired violent thoughts. Rather, the evidence in the State’s possession all along supported the inference that Holland knew Moore lived there, that Holland needed cash, and targeted Moore’s apartment because he believed Moore was a drug dealer who would have cash and drugs on hand that could be stolen. Therefore, the State fails to show a material change in the facts available to it to overcome the presumption of vindictive prosecution. Because we find that the presumption of vindictive prosecution applies, we reverse Holland’s convictions for Attempted Robbery and Home Invasion and the associated counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, leaving only the convictions for charges from the first trial standing.

Seeking total victory, Holland seeks to escape all of the convictions he suffered after his second trial by contending that his waiver of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. We disagree. His argument requires accepting both that the Superior Court always must mechanistically go through a series of factors, which this Court has regularly held to be examples *458

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Holland v. State, 158 A.3d 452, 2017 WL 1076391, 2017 Del. LEXIS 122 (Del. 2017).

158 A.3d 452 (Holland v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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