State v. Goodman

CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedMay 15, 2023
Docket1807009539
StatusPublished

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

Bluebook
State v. Goodman, (Del. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

STATE OF DELAWARE, ) ) ) v. ) ID. No. 1807009539 ) ) RASHAD GOODMAN )

Submitted: March 3, 2023 Decided: May 15, 2023

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Upon Defendant Rashad Goodman’s Motion for Postconviction Relief, DENIED.

Natalie S. Woloshin, Esquire, WOLOSHIN, LYNCH, & ASSOCIATES, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for Mr. Goodman.

Dominic Carrera, Esquire, Deputy Attorney General, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Wilmington, Delaware, for the State.

WALLACE, J. Rashad Goodman is currently serving a prison sentence that is comprised, in

part, of a 10-year term of mandatory incarceration arising from a conviction for

Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited and related counts.

In his present postconviction relief motion, Mr. Goodman insists the Court

must re-sentence him without the 10-year minimum mandatory sentencing

enhancement because, in his view, trial counsel wrongly conceded Mr. Goodman

was subject to that 10-year minimum. For the reasons below, Mr. Goodman’s

motion for postconviction relief is DENIED.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On March 11, 2019, Mr. Goodman was convicted of the following after a

bench trial: Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited (“PFBPP”), Possession

of Ammunition by a Person Prohibited, and Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon.1

During the sentencing hearing the State argued that because of Mr. Goodman’s prior

Pennsylvania convictions, he is “subject to a 10-year minimum-mandatory Level

5 incarceration for possession of a firearm by a person prohibited.”2 The State then

argued for 15 years of incarceration.3 Mr. Goodman’s trial counsel affirmatively

“ask[ed] the Court to impose the minimum mandatory, which is ten years in this

1 Goodman v. State, 2020 WL 1061691, at *1 (Del. Mar. 4, 2020). 2 Def.’s Appendix at A350, State v. Goodman, I.D. No. 1807009539 (Del. Super. Ct. Aug. 16, 2021) (D.I. 50) (hereinafter “Def.’s App.”). 3 Id.

-1- matter.”4

The Court then sentenced Mr. Goodman to 31 years at Level V incarceration,

suspended after ten years with application of 11 Del. C. § 4204(k) thereto (thereby

requiring Mr. Goodman serve all ten years at Level V without diminution).5 The

Court noted that an unsuspended ten-year term was the minimum allowed due to the

operation of 11 Del. C. § 1448(e)(1)(c) and that the § 4204(k) provision was applied

as a matter of the Court’s discretion.6

Mr. Goodman appealed his conviction to the Delaware Supreme Court

arguing only that the undersigned, who heard his bench trial, should have recused

himself once he had been exposed “to highly prejudicial evidence.”7 The Supreme

Court affirmed Mr. Goodman’s conviction.8

Thereafter, Mr. Goodman docketed a motion for postconviction relief.9 The

Court appointed Mr. Goodman postconviction counsel who then filed an amended

motion for postconviction relief.10 The Court heard arguments on the motion and it

4 Id. at A351. 5 Id. at A361-62. 6 Id. at A356-59; id. at A361-62; see also DEL. CODE ANN. tit. 11, § 1448(e)(1)(c) (2018). 7 Goodman, 2020 WL 1061691, at *3. 8 Id. at *3-4. 9 D.I. 41. 10 D.I. 49.

-2- is now ripe for decision.11

II. THE POSTCONVICTION MOTION

A. MR. GOODMAN’S MOTION CAN BE CONSIDERED ON ITS MERITS.

Before the Court can consider the substance of any postconviction claim, it

must first address Criminal Rule 61’s procedural requirements.12 The procedural

bars in Rule 61 are timeliness, repetitiveness, procedural default, and former

adjudication.13

Mr. Goodman’s postconviction motion is timely because it was filed less than

a year after his judgment of conviction became final. This is also Mr. Goodman’s

first motion for postconviction relief. And because Mr. Goodman’s sole claim

alleges ineffective assistance of counsel—which generally can’t be raised on direct

appeal—he is neither procedurally barred from raising it in this collateral

proceeding, nor has it been formerly adjudicated.

Accordingly, the Court will address the merits of Mr. Goodman’s ineffective-

assistance-at-sentencing claim.

11 D.I. 58. 12 Maxion v. State, 686 A.2d 148, 150 (Del. 1996); State v. Jones, 2002 WL 31028584, at *2 (Del. Super. Ct. Sept. 10, 2002). 13 State v. Taylor, 2017 WL 5054262, at *2 (Del. Super. Ct. Oct. 23, 2017). If any of these bars apply, then the inmate must show entitlement to relief under Rule 61(i)(5). Id.

-3- B. MR. GOODMAN’S POSTCONVICTION CLAIM

Mr. Goodman alleges trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by

wrongfully conceding that Mr. Goodman’s previous out-of-state convictions

enhanced his minimum mandatory sentence to ten years.14 According to

Mr. Goodman, he should be resentenced with the Court’s starting point being a lower

minimum-mandatory.15

III. APPLICABLE LEGAL STANDARDS

A movant who claims ineffective assistance of counsel must demonstrate that:

(a) his defense counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of

reasonableness, and (b) there is a reasonable probability that but for counsel’s errors,

the result of the proceeding would have been different.16

There is a strong presumption that criminal defense counsel’s representation

was reasonable,17 and “[i]t is not this Court’s function to second-guess reasonable

[litigation] tactics” engaged by him.18 Too, one claiming ineffective assistance

14 Oral Arg. Tr. at 25 (D.I. 58) (“[Trial Counsel] was ineffective because he conceded the 10 years.”); id. at 14 (“that minimum should not have been argued at 10”). 15 Id. at 14. See, e.g., Jones v. State, 2021 WL 4098967, at *2 (Del. Sept. 8, 2021) (noting that relief in the form of resentencing may be warranted to correct a court’s misimposition of non- suspended imprisonment as a minimum-mandatory term to a sentence when that minimum term did not in fact apply); State v. Palmer, 2022 WL 16641898, at *7 (Del. Super. Ct. Sept. 27, 2022) (granting such relief under Rule 35(a)). 16 Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694 (1984); see also Alston v. State, 2015 WL 5297709, at *2-3 (Del. Sept. 4, 2015). 17 See Wright v. State, 671 A.2d 1353, 1356 (Del. 1996). 18 State v. Drummond, 2002 WL 524283, at *1 (Del. Super. Ct. Apr. 1, 2002).

-4- “must make specific allegations of how defense counsel’s conduct actually

prejudiced the proceedings, rather than mere allegations of ineffectiveness.”19

Lastly, a movant must demonstrate both deficient attorney performance and

resulting prejudice to succeed on his ineffective assistance of counsel claim.20

Failure to do so on either will doom that claim and obviate any need for the Court

to address the other.

IV. DISCUSSION

MR. GOODMAN’S TRIAL AND APPELLATE COUNSEL DID NOT PROVIDE INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE.

A. MR. GOODMAN’S TRIAL AND APPELLATE COUNSEL WERE NOT DEFICIENT.

Mr. Goodman challenges the sentence he received via a claim of ineffective

assistance of counsel.21 At bottom, Mr. Goodman suggests that had his counsel been

constitutionally effective, Mr. Goodman would not have been subject to a ten-year

minimum mandatory sentence and might instead be serving a reduced sentence.22

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Goodman, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-goodman-delsuperct-2023.