State v. Anderson

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