IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
STATE OF DELAWARE
v. I.D. # 1404011405
WILLIAM D. ANDERSON,
Defendant.
\/\/\/V\./\/\/
Submitted: June 9, 2017
Decided: July 11, 2017
Upon Defendant’s Motion for Modiflcation of Sentence:
DENIED
Upon Defendant’s Motion for Correction of Illegal Sentence:
DENIED
Upon Defendant’s Motion for New Trial:
DENIED
This llth day of July, 2017, upon consideration of William D. Anderson’s
Motion for Modification of Sentence (the “Modification Motion”), Motion for
Correction of Illegal Sentence (the “Correction Motion”), Motion for a New Trial
(the “Trial Motion”), and the record in this case, it appears to the Court that:
l. Anderson was convicted on January 28, 2015 of Assault Second
Degree. The assault charge involved an altercation between Anderson and Gary
Staffieri, who was Anderson’s coworker at the Auto Mart in Elsmere, Delaware.
At trial, Staffieri testified Anderson approached Staffleri while he was retrieving a
battery from a back room and the next thing Staffleri remembered was waking up
outside with a lump on his head. Another co-worker, Ricardo Reyes, testified that
he witnessed the incident between Anderson and Staffieri, that Staffieri struck
Anderson with his knee, and that Anderson then pushed and struck Staffieri.
Reyes left the scene to get a supervisor and, when he returned, saw Staffieri having
seizures, shaking, and with a large lump on his head. Finally, Elsmere Police
Officer Andrew Davis testified that he interviewed Staffieri while he was receiving
treatment at the hospital and that Staffieri reported that Anderson struck him in the
head.
2. In his defense, Anderson called the owner of Auto Mart, Allan Bobb,
who testified that Staffieri’s demeanor was unusual on the day of the incident and
that Staffieri admitted drinking alcohol that moming. Anderson also testified in his
own defense He admitted striking Staffieri, but stated he only did so because
Staffieri kneed him in the abdomen. The jury found Anderson guilty of assaulting
Staffieri.
3. On February 20, 2015, after trial but before sentencing, the trial judge
received a letter from a juror (the “Juror Letter”), who stated she felt “very
unsettled about the ‘guilty’ verdict.”l The juror indicated she “felt Mr. Staffieri
was equally, if not MORE at fault since he had been drinking that morning and is
1 D.1.46,EX.B.
the one who offered the first ‘l