IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
TITUS SHAW, §
§ No. 484, 2014
Defendant Below, §
Appellant, § Court Below–Superior Court of
§ the State of Delaware in and for
v. § New Castle County
§
STATE OF DELAWARE, § Cr. ID No. 0806012567
§
Plaintiff Below, §
Appellee. §
Submitted: October 29, 2014
Decided: December 19, 2014
Before STRINE, Chief Justice, RIDGELY, and VALIHURA, Justices.
ORDER
This 19th day of December 2014, upon consideration of the appellant’s
opening brief and the appellee’s motion to affirm, it appears to the Court
that:
(1) On January 5, 2009, the appellant, Titus Shaw, pled guilty to
Robbery in the Second Degree and Possession of a Firearm During the
Commission of a Felony. The Superior Court sentenced Shaw to three years
mandatory at Level V for the weapon offense and to five years at Level V
for robbery. The court suspended the robbery sentence for three years of
Level III probation.
(2) On September 24, 2014, Shaw was found guilty of his sixth
violation of probation (“VOP”) and was resentenced to three years and four
months at Level V suspended for six months at the Level IV VOP Center.
Shaw challenges the sentence on appeal, claiming that the Superior Court
was not authorized to sentence him to any time at Level V because, by
September 24, 2014, the date he was sentenced, he had completed all of the
Level V time imposed in the original sentence in 2009.
(3) This Court’s appellate review of a sentence generally is limited
to whether the sentence exceeds the statutory limits.1 “[O]nce a defendant
violates the terms of his probation, the Superior Court has the authority to
require a defendant to serve the sentence imposed, or any lesser sentence.”2
A VOP sentence must account for all time previously served at Level V or at
a Level IV VOP Center.3 Also, a subsequent VOP sentence cannot exceed
the term that a prior VOP sentence left suspended.4
(4) We have reviewed the record and carefully considered the
parties’ submissions, including the five-page “Delaware Department of
Correction Level V Served Report” attached to the motion to affirm filed by
1
Mayes v. State, 604 A.2d 839, 842 (Del. 1992).
2
State v. Sloman, 886 A.2d 1257, 1260 (Del. 2005) (citing 11 Del. C. § 4334(c)).
3
11 Del. C. § 3901(c); Gamble v. State, 728 A.2d 1171, 1171 (Del. 1999); Green v. State,
2010 WL 2278251, at *2 (Del. June 7, 2010).
4
Pavulak v. State, 880 A.2d 1044, 1045-46 (Del. 2005).
2
the appellee, State of Delaware. It appears that, by September 16, 2014, the
effective date of the September 24, 2014 sentence, Shaw had completed the
original mandatory three-year Level V sentence for the weapon offense and
had served just short of one year and six months of the original five-year
Level V sentence for robbery. Consequently, when sentencing Shaw on
September 24, 2014 for the sixth VOP, the Superior Court was authorized to
impose three years and four months at Level V, the balance of the five-year
robbery sentence. Three years and four months at Level V did not exceed
the Level V term that was imposed and suspended on August 20, 2014 on
Shaw’s fifth VOP.5
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the motion to affirm is
GRANTED. The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Karen L. Valihura
Justice
5
On the fifth VOP, Shaw was resentenced, for robbery, to three years and four months at
Level V suspended for six months at Level IV work release.
3