State v. Sturgis

Superior Court of Delaware·Decided November 19, 2018·No. 0304014538·Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

STATE OF DELAWARE, ) )

)

v. ) Case ID No.: 0304014538

)

)

TERVAUGHN C. STURGIS, ) )

Defendant. )

ORDER

Submitted: August 29, 2018 Decided: November 19, 2018

Upon Consideration of the Comml`ssl'oner ’s Report and Recommendation on Defena’ant ’s Motionfor Postconvinction Relief ADOPTED.

Upon Consz`deration of Defendant ’s Appeal from the Commissioner ’s Report and

Recommendation 0n Tervaughn C. Sturgis ’s Motionfor Postconviction Reliejf DENIED.

Tervaughn C. Sturgis. Pro se.

Sonia Augusthy, Esquire, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice, Wilmington, Delaware. Attorneyfor the State.

MEDINILLA, J.

AND NOW TO WIT, this 19th day of November, 2018, upon consideration of Defendant Tervaughn C. Sturgis (“Defendant”)’s July 15, 2018 Motion for Postconviction Relief (“Motion”), the Commissioner’s August 20, 2018 Report and Recommendation that Defendant’s Motion for Postconviction Relief Should Be Summarily Dismissed, Defendant’s August 28, 2018 Motion for Objection to Commissioner’s Recommendation (“Objection”), the sentence imposed upon Defendant, and the record in this case, it appears to the Court that:

1. Over fifteen years ago, Defendant pled guilty to Robbery in the First Degree on November 4, 2003. He agreed to immediate sentencing and Was sentenced to 20 years at Supervision Level V, followed by one year at Supervision Level IV suspended after serving 6 months, for 6 months Supervision Level III.l

2. On July 20, 2018, Defendant untimely filed this Motion for Postconviction Relief,2 and argues both ineffective assistance of counsel and illegal sentence as his bases for relief.3 Specifically, he argues that: (1) his counsel “Was ineffective When “he failed to challenge the indictment under the circumstances Which rendered his assistance as an underminding [sic] performance both at pretrial,

trial, and appellate stages in violation of Defendant’s due process rights to the U.S.

l Sentencing Order, State v. Tervaughn C. Sturgis, ID No. 0304014538 (Del. Super. Nov. 18, 2003).

2 D.I. #40 (July 20, 2018) [hereinafter Def. Rule 61 Mot.].

3 See generally id.

Const. Amend. 6 and 14 Rights;” (2) his counsel Was “ineffective not to challenge [the] fundamental fact” that “property Was simple ‘U.S. currency’ and not ‘property’ as the indictment indicates;” (3) his counsel “could or should have moved to suppress the indictment to challenge the information ‘necessary to finding of probable cause;”’ and (4) the “Trial Court’s sentencing Defendant to the robbery [First] count is a sentence that the judgment of conviction did not authorize.”4

3. The Court referred Defendant’s Motion to a Superior Court Commissioner for proposed findings of fact and conclusions of laW.5 On August 20, 2018, the Commissioner issued a report recommending that Defendant’s Motion for Postconviction Relief should be summarily dismissed.6 The Commissioner outlined the various procedural bars to Defendant’s Motion, and further determined his arguments did not meet any exceptions to these procedural bars.7 The Commissioner found that Defendant’s Motion_filed more than fourteen years after the judgment of conviction became final_Was procedurally barred under Rule 6l(i)(l) as

untimely, Waived under Rule 61(i)(3), and improperly raised under Rule 6l(i)(4)

4 Def. Rule 61 Mot., at 8-12. 5 See 10 Del. C. § 512(b)(1)(b) (2013 & Supp. 2016); DEL. SUPER. CT. CRIM. R. 62(a)(5). 6 See D.I. #47 (Del. Super. Aug. 20, 2018) [hereinafter Comm’r Report].

71¢1.1111.

where Defendant had thrice previously and unsuccessfully challenged the legality of his sentence.8

4. Further, the Commissioner addressed Defendant’s argument that his claims were not barred under Rule 61(i)(5). The Commissioner found that Defendant was citing an incorrect version of Rule 61(i)(5).9 The Commissioner then analyzed Defendant’s claims under the correct version of Rule 61(i)(5) and found that Defendant did not “establish an exception to the procedural bars[]” under Rule 61(i)(5) and Rule 6l(d)(i) and (ii) because he was not convicted at a trial, he “has not set forth any new evidence or facts demonstrating that he is innocent of the acts giving rise to the conviction, nor has he asserted that a new rule of constitutional law affects his conviction.”m The Commissioner also found that Defendant did not

establish “cause” or “prejudice” under Rule 61(i)(3) to overcome its procedural bar

8 Comm’r Report 1111 6-8. First, the Commissioner found that Defendant’s Motion was untimely and thus is barred under Rule 61(i)(1) because it was filed more than fourteen years after the judgment of conviction became final. Additionally, the Commissioner found that Defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims were subject to the procedural timeliness bar under Rule 61(i)(1). The Commissioner found that Defendant had previously adjudicated the legality of his sentence in at least three motions to modify his sentence; all denied. Further, Defendant’s challenge regarding discrepancies between the language of the lndictment and the Affidavit of Probable Cause was not previously raised before the Court. Therefore, the Commissioner found that the legality of his sentence should not be reconsidered as previously adjudicated under Rule 61(i)(4), and any argument regarding the language of the lndictment was deemed waived under Rule 61(i)(3).

9161.119.

1014 1110.

because he entered into a valid guilty plea and his statements were presumed truthful during his guilty plea colloquy to the Court.ll

5. Defendant filed this Motion captioned “Obj ection” on August 25, 2018, which this Court accepts as an “Appeal from Commissioner’s Findings of Fact and Recommendation.”12 Defendant re-argues that his claim is not procedurally barred, again citing to an older version of Rule 61 .13 Defendant also objects to the Commissioner’s August 17, 2018 denial of his Motion for Appointment of Counsel.14 In his Objection, Defendant requests that the rest of his Level V sentence be “dismissed”, or in the altemative, that this court consider this “petition” under Superior Court Criminal Rule 35(a) as a motion to reduce or modify his sentence as an illegal sentence.15

6. Under Delaware Superior Court Rule 62(a)(5), the Court may refer to

a Superior Court Commissioner case-dispositive motions, including postconviction

ll Comm’r Report 11 11 (citing Moajica v. Stale, 2009 WL 2426675 (Del. 2009) (citing Miller v. State, 840 A.2d 1229, 1232 (Del. 2003)); Wl`ndsor v. Slate, 2015 WL 5679751 (Del. Sept. 25, 2015) (holding that absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, defendant is bound by his sworn statements). See also, State v. Brown, 2010 WL 8250799, at *3 (Del. Super., Apr. 14, 2010) (citing Somervl`lle v. State, 703 A.2d 629 (Del. 1997))).

12 DEL SUPER. CT. CRIM. R. 62(a)(5)(ii). 13 D.I. #48 (Del. Super. Nov. 28, 2018) [hereinafter Def. Objection].

14 Id. at 4. Defendant filed a Motion for Appointment of Counsel on July 15, 2018. On August 16, 2018, the Commissioner denied Defendant’s Motion for Appointment of Counsel.

15 Id. at 5-6.

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