State v. Clark

• Court: Superior Court of Delaware
• Decided: June 17, 2024
• Docket: 1712008300 1707004019
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

STATE OF DELAWARE ) ) v. ) I.D. Nos. 1712008300 ) 1707004019 SHAMIR CLARK, ) ) Defendant. )

Submitted: May 22, 2024 Decided: June 17, 2024

Upon Defendant’s Motion for Correction of an Illegal Sentence, DENIED.

ORDER

Erika R. Flaschner, Esquire, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice, 820 North French Street, Wilmington, DE 19801, Attorney for the State.

Shamir Clark, SBI# 00519158, James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, 1181 Paddock Road, Smyrna, DE 19977, pro se.

WHARTON, J. This 17th day of June, 2024, upon consideration of Defendant Shamir Clark’s

(“Clark”) pro se Motion for Correction of an Illegal Sentence pursuant to Superior

Court Criminal Rule 35(a) (“Motion”)1 and the record in this matter, it appears to

the Court that:

1. Clark pled guilty to Drug Dealing in Cocaine, Carrying a Concealed

Deadly Weapon, and Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited (“PFBPP”).2

The PFBPP charge occurred on December 14, 2017.3 The only sentence challenged

in the Motion is his sentence on the PFBPP charge. On that charge, he was declared

a habitual offender, and, pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 4214(c) sentenced to 15 years at

Level V on August 10, 2018, the same day he entered his guilty plea.4 That sentence

represented the maximum sentence under 11 Del. C. § 1448(e)(1) which the Court

was required to impose as a minimum sentence under the provisions of § 4214(c).

2. In his motion, Clark challenges the enhancement of his PFBPP sentence

to 15 years from what he argues otherwise would have been a 10 year maximum

sentence under § 1448(e)(1)(c). 5 He bases this argument on the fact that one of the

charges that the State included in its motion to declare him a habitual was “a title 16

1 D.I. 21. (Docket Item numbers refer to the ID. No 1712008300). 2 D.I. 12. 3 D.I. 7. 4 D.I. 17. 5 D.I. 21. 2 offense under § 4754(2).” 6 He contends that “a June 2, 2015 legislative action

‘removed all § 4754 offenses.’ (as violent felonies from 4201(c)).” 7

3. The Court observes first that Clark properly was determined to be a

habitual offender. He had the requisite number of prior felonies – three - in the

proper sequence, with appropriate time intervals after his sentencing on one felony

and his commission of the next.8

4. The real question is whether the maximum sentence for the PFBPP

charge for which Clark was sentenced as a habitual offender was properly enhanced

from eight years to 15. Under § 1448(c), PFBPP is a class D felony with an eight

year maximum, unless the defendant “is eligible for sentencing pursuant to

subsection (e) of this section, in which case it is a class C felony” with a maximum

sentence of 15 years.9 Subsection (e)(1) imposes minimum mandatory sentences of:

(a) three years if the defendant has previously been convicted of a violent felony; (2)

five years if the defendant committed the violent felony or was released from

confinement for that violent felony within 10 years of the new PFBPP charge; and

(3) 10 years if the defendant was convicted previously on two or occasions of a

violent felony. 10

6 Id. 7 Id. (quoting the State’s response to a Rule 35(a) motion in State v. Nigel Campbell, ID No. 1605008552). 8 See, D.I. 14. 9 11 Del. C. § 1448(c). 10 11 Del. C. § 1448(e)(1). 3 5. Any one of those three enhancements results in PFBPP becoming a

class C felony with a maximum sentence of 15 years, and, therefore, the minimum

sentence a habitual offender must receive under § 4214(c). On September 15, 2008,

Clark was sentenced, effective February 17, 2008, to three years at Level V on the

charge of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony (“PFDFC”),

a violent felony.11 Because Clark previously had been convicted of at least one

violent felony – PFDCF – the maximum penalty for his current PFBPP conviction

was enhanced to 15 years and his minimum sentence as a habitual offender.

Accordingly, his sentence of 15 years on that charge as a habitual offender was not

an illegal sentence.

THEREFORE, Clark’s Motion for Correction of an Illegal Sentence is

DENIED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

/s/ Ferris W. Wharton Ferris W. Wharton, J.

11 D.I. 14; 11 Del. C. § 4201(c). 4