Opinion
No. 583, 2010.
Submitted: April 22, 2011.
Decided: June 20, 2011.
Court Below — Superior Court of the State of Delaware, in and for New Castle County, Cr. ID Nos. 0607005324 and 0608017003.
Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND and BERGER, Justices.
ORDER
This 20th day of June 2011, upon consideration of the parties' briefs and the record on appeal, it appears to the Court that:
(1) The appellant, Chavez Waters, filed this appeal from his Superior Court sentencing following his second violation of probation (VOP). Waters' sole argument on appeal is that the evidence was insufficient to establish a violation of probation. We find Waters' appeal to be moot. Accordingly, the appeal shall be dismissed.
(2) The record reflects that Waters pled guilty in November 2006 to possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession of marijuana within 1000 feet of a school, and criminal impersonation. The Superior Court sentenced Waters to a total period of eight years at Level V imprisonment to be suspended after serving two years at Level V for decreasing levels of supervision. In February 2010, Waters was arrested on new criminal charges, including trafficking cocaine. As a result, he was charged in May 2010 with his second violation of probation. The Superior Court found him guilty of the VOP and resentenced him. Waters thereafter filed this appeal challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to support the Superior Court's VOP adjudication. After filing this appeal, Waters pled guilty to trafficking in cocaine on January 19, 2011.
He previously had been found guilty of violating probation in August 2008.
(3) The State argues that Waters' subsequent guilty plea to the new criminal charge that formed the basis of the Superior Court's VOP finding renders his appeal from the VOP moot. We agree. This Court previously has held that a defendant's evidentiary appeal from a VOP finding was moot because of his subsequent voluntary plea to the new criminal charge that formed the basis of the VOP. That holding applies here.
See DeJesus v. State, 977 A.2d 797, 799 (Del. 2009) (citing Frady v. State, 2000 WL 1897395 (Del. Dec. 19, 2000).
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the within appeal is DISMISSED as moot.