Opinion
ID: 1410010123
08-18-2015
STATE OF DELAWARE v. WILLIE REEDER, Defendant.
pc: Josette Manning, Deputy Attorney General Michael W. Modica, Esquire, w/o encl.
ORDER
Upon Defendant's Motion for Sentence Modification - DENIED.
1. On December 30, 2014, Defendant pleaded guilty to one count of endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death.
11 Del.C. § 1102(a). --------
2. After a pre-sentence investigation, Defendant was sentenced on April 24, 2015 to five years in prison, suspended after three years, six months. Paraphrasing the sentencing order, this was a shocking case. Defendant stood by as his girlfriend physically abused and neglected the four-year-old victim to death, probably while both of them were high on drugs Defendant provided.
3. Defendant did not directly appeal the sentence. Instead, he who originally claimed poverty, hired new counsel, who filed the above-captioned motion July 21, 2015. Mostly in pot-calling-the-kettle-black fashion, the motion accuses the State of "hyperbole" and other minor misconduct. It also alleges the court erred in several ways. In that sense, the motion is out of order because the alleged misconduct and errors are matters that should have been raised on appeal. Otherwise, the motion is an untimely motion for reargument, offering no affirmative reason for sentence reduction based on anything after the alleged defective sentencing.
4. The State answered Defendant's motion August 11, 2015. The State's answer is on-point, and it is incorporated here. The pre-sentence report is also of record.
5. Substantively, Defendant largely misconstrues and overstates what actually happened at sentencing. For example, Defendant was not "sentenced for being a drug dealer," although he probably is one. Similarly, the court did not "place[] more weight on [Defendant's] character, prior history of drug convictions[,] and alleged lifestyle than on the behavior that supported the charge[] and for which he pleaded guilty." Further, Defendant was not "punished for who[m] he was believed to be, as opposed to his admitted conduct." And, so on.
6. In reality, Defendant was sentenced above the sentencing guideline, yet below the maximum, primarily because for at least three days, he watched an infant die an agonizing death in the small motel room he shared with the victim's mother. To be sure, the court also considered that Defendant's decision not to get the infant medical help, which was obviously needed, might have been influenced by the drugs he probably supplied. Moreover, the court considered that this was Defendant's seventh criminal conviction in this court, and he is otherwise not a productive member of society.
7. Also to set the record straight, the State says it took Defendant's early acceptance of responsibility into account when it made its plea offer of a reduced charge. The court further acknowledged Defendant's acceptance of responsibility. Although the State recommended the maximum sentence (five years), the court, as it explained then, sentenced Defendant to less, partly because he accepted responsibility and partly to provide a longer period of community-based supervision.
8. In closing, if the neglect here was shorter-lived and less apparent, if it was not drug-related, if Defendant had little or no criminal history, if Defendant was a productive member of society, or if, and especially so, a combination of those factors existed, the present sentence might be called harsh. But, Defendant's criminal history and his demonstrably indolent lifestyle combined to make some sort of tragedy almost inevitable. The court hopes Defendant will use his time in prison to get organized and acquire some of the discipline necessary to make him less dangerous, and perhaps more productive. The court is willing to re-consider this sentence, but only if Defendant shows he is changed. Meanwhile, the court is unmoved by Defendant's accusations. Defendant's current predicament is his own making.
For the foregoing reasons, Defendant's July 21, 2015 Motion for Sentence Modification is DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED. Date: August 18, 2015
/s/ Fred S. Silverman
Judge oc: Prothonotary (Criminal)
pc: Josette Manning, Deputy Attorney General
Michael W. Modica, Esquire, w/o encl.