Opinion
No. 292, 2002
Submitted: July 16, 2002
Decided: August 22, 2002
Court Below-Superior Court of the State of Delaware, in and for New Castle County Cr.A. Nos. IN97-07-1517, -1519, and -1522 Cr. ID 9707013932
Affirmed.
Unpublished opinion is below.
LLOYD L. WELCH, Defendant Below-Appellant, v. STATE OF DELAWARE, Plaintiff Below-Appellee. No. 292, 2002 In the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware. Submitted: July 16, 2002 Decided: August 22, 2002
Before VEASEY, Chief Justice, WALSH, and STEELE, Justices.
E. Norman Veasey, Chief Justice:
ORDER
This 22nd day of August 2002, upon consideration of the appellant's opening brief and the State's motion to affirm, it appears to the Court that:
(1) The defendant-appellant, Lloyd Welch, pleaded guilty in January 1998 to first degree unlawful sexual intercourse, third degree unlawful sexual penetration, and second degree unlawful sexual contact. He was sentenced in March 1998 to life imprisonment plus seven years. He did not appeal. He filed a petition for postconviction relief in June 1999, which the Superior Court denied. This Court affirmed that decision on appeal.
Welch v. State, 2000 WL 431590 (Del.Supr.).
Welch filed a second motion for postconviction relief in April 2002, which the Superior Court denied on the grounds that it was procedurally barred.
This appeal ensued.
(2) Having carefully considered the parties= respective contentions and the record below, we find it manifest that the judgment of the Superior Court should be affirmed on the basis of the Superior Court=s well-reasoned decision dated May 15, 2002. Welch's motion clearly was untimely.
DEL. SUPER. CT. CRIM. R. 61(i)(1). 3 DEL. SUPER. CT. CRIM. R. 61(i)(2).
Moreover, the argument raised in Welch's motion should have been raised in his first postconviction motion.3 The Superior Court, therefore, did not err in concluding that Welch's claim was procedurally barred.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the State's motion to affirm is GRANTED. The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED.