By Tom Eldred,
Delaware State News
DOVER - The state Department of Justice Friday filed a "motion to recall mandate'' with the Delaware Supreme Court in an effort to forestall the release from prison of an estimated 200 murderers, rapists, kidnappers and habitual offenders.
Meanwhile, the state's chief public defender said he is waiting for a listing from the Department of Correction so his office can seek a court order mandating that any inmate qualified for release be immediately set free.
State Attorney General M. Jane Brady said the motion was filed with the high court in light of a bill passed Wednesday in the General Assembly that declared a recent decision by the court "null and void'' because the court failed to correctly interpret the intent of the legislature.
She said lawmakers never intended that dangerous convicts, sentenced to life in prison, should be automatically paroled.
Ms. Brady announced Monday that a November 2004 Supreme Court decision determined that, according to the Delaware Code, inmates sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole before June 30, 1990, are entitled to a conditional release date calculated as if their life sentences are 45-year terms.
With credit for good time, she said some sentences could be reduced to as little as 26 years.
She said the ruling does not apply to offenders sentenced to life without parole, or to those sentenced after June 30, 1990, when Delaware's Truth-in-Sentencing laws eliminated parole for inmates serving life sentences for Class A felonies.
The court's decision turned on the case of Ward T. Evans, who was convicted in 1982 of first-degree rape and sentenced to life behind bars with the possibility of parole.
According to the ruling, DOC improperly calculated Evans' release date as "death" and his maximum sentence, less good time credit, as "life,'' when in fact it should have been 45 years.
The state legislature, however, said the court misinterpreted the intent of the law. Acting in that belief, both chambers passed a bill Wednesday declaring the Evans decision null and void.
The measure, House Bill 31, was sent to Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and is awaiting her signature. Gregory B. Patterson, a spokesman for the governor, said legal counsel is reviewing the bill to determine its constitutional validity.
Ms. Brady said Friday's petition does not address constitutional issues other than to note that portions of HB 31 may be of "doubtful constitutional validity.''
"Essentially, what we're saying is that the legislature's intent was that these inmates serve life sentences not subject to release,'' she said.
"We believe that in determining the intent of the General Assembly, that the court erred. We're saying to the court, in light of that, that the court has authority to recall its mandate and to review the new information.''
The motion filed Friday by Deputy Attorney General Loren C. Meyers, chief of the appeals division for the Department of Justice, notes the court has authority to recall its mandate.
"Though that authority is to be used sparingly, if subsequent developments, especially developments occurring soon after the court decides the particular case, show that the original judgment was demonstrably wrong, recall of the mandate is warranted,'' the motion states.
"The court's decision (in the Evans case) turns on a narrow question of statutory interpretation, a question which the General Assembly has now unambiguously answered. Irrespective of the validity of certain portions of the bill, the General Assembly's findings ... are a clear declaration of the legislature's intent in the original act.''
In a related matter, Bureau of Prisons chief Paul W. Howard said DOC is still working on a master list of inmates who would be eligible for parole because of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Evans case.
"The calculations of the sentences for these individuals are a very complex matter,'' Mr. Howard said Friday. "We want to give this a complete review to make sure we are in compliance with the law.''
Mr. Howard said that when DOC completes its work, it will submit the list to the attorney general's office for further review.
"We want to ensure that we are in compliance,'' he said. "We have to proceed with what we've been given (in the court decision). There is a whole bunch (of inmates) that could fall under this category.''
He said he could not say when the list would be made public.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,'' he said.
Elizabeth Welch, a DOC spokeswoman, said the list would not be made public at least through Sunday, nor would any qualified inmates be released through Sunday.
Chief Public Defender Lawrence M. Sullivan said his office is ready to advocate for inmates that are qualified for release under the Supreme Court's ruling.
"We can and we will do that,'' he said Friday. "I talked to (Corrections Commissioner) Stan Taylor two days ago and asked for a complete list of the 200 inmates purportedly qualified for release. He said he was working on it.''
Mr. Sullivan said he's ready to act when he gets the list.
"We're going to bring the matter to the attention of the court,'' he said. "We will petition Superior Court for a court order that orders the release of whoever qualifies.''
Contact information
Concerned victims and their families can contact the state Department of Justice to obtain information regarding inmates released because of a recent state Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling does not apply to sentences imposed for crimes committed after June 30, 1990, and does not apply to inmates convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.
Victims can call the Department of Justice at:
Jennifer Butler in Kent County at 739-4211
Kim Quillen in Sussex County at 856-5353
Mariann Kenville-Moore at 577-8500 in New Castle County
Source: Department of Justice
Going free?
Under a state Supreme Court ruling, more than 200 offenders serving life sentences with parole could be released from prison. Included among them are:
25 convicted of first-degree murder
24 convicted of second-degree murder
67 convicted of rape
35 convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse
20 convicted of kidnapping
14 habitual offenders
Source: Department of Correction
Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or teldred@newszap.com.
Reprinted with permisson from newszap.com
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