State v. Rodriguez

• Court: Superior Court of Delaware
• Decided: January 16, 2025
• Docket: 2311006703
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

STATE OF DELAWARE, ) ) v. ) ID No: 2311006703 ) JOSEPH RODRIGUEZ, ) ) Defendant. )

Submitted: December 26, 2024 Decided: January 16, 2025

ORDER

Upon Consideration of Defendant’s Motion for Sentence Reduction DENIED

1. Defendant, Joseph Rodriguez, filed the instant Motion for Sentence Reduction

on December 26, 2024.1 Defendant asks the Court to find that he is

experiencing extreme circumstances sufficient to reduce his sentence because

his father is in the hospital.2

2. On August 13, 2024, Defendant pled guilty to Strangulation, Assault Third

Degree, and Non-Compliance with Bond Conditions.3 In accordance with the

plea agreement, Defendant was sentenced on October 25, 2024 with Level V

incarceration suspended after one (1) year for eighteen (18) months at Level

III probation with GPS Monitoring for Strangulation, thirty (30) days at Level

1 Docket Item (“D.I.”) 18. 2 Id. 3 D.I. 17. V with no subsequent probation for Assault Third Degree, and one (1) year at

Level V suspended for one (1) year at Level III probation.4 The confinement

sentences were ordered to run consecutively, and the probation sentences were

ordered to run concurrently.5

3. Under Superior Court Criminal Rule 35(b), “[t]he court may reduce a sentence

of imprisonment on a motion made within 90 days after the sentence is

imposed.”6 If the motion is filed later than 90 days after imposition of the

sentence, the Court will only consider the motion “in extraordinary

circumstances.”7 The Court may consider a sentence reduction motion

“without presentation, hearing, or argument.”8

4. Defendant’s sentence was imposed on October 25, 2024, and Defendant filed

the instant Motion on December 26, 2024. Therefore, Defendant complies

with the 90-day filing period required by Rule 35(b).

5. After reviewing Defendant’s Motion, the entire record of the case, and all

sentencing information provided, this Court does not find a sentence

modification is appropriate.

4 Id. 5 Id. 6 Super. Ct. Crim. R. 35(b). 7 Id. 8 Id. IT IS SO ORDERED that your motion for reduction or modification of sentence is DENIED.

/s/ Francis J. Jones, Jr. Francis J. Jones, Jr., Judge

cc: Original to Prothonotary Cassandra Balascak, Deputy Attorney General Joseph Rodriguez, pro se