Purnell v. State ( 2016 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
LAUREN PURNELL, §
§
Defendant Below- § No. 280, 2016
Appellant, §
§
v. § Court Below—Superior Court
§ of the State of Delaware
STATE OF DELAWARE, §
§ Cr. ID 1408003462
Plaintiff Below- §
Appellee. §
Submitted: September 9, 2016
Decided: November 3, 2016
Before VALIHURA, VAUGHN, and SEITZ, Justices.
ORDER
This 3rd day of November 2016, upon consideration of the parties’ briefs and
the record on appeal, it appears to the Court that:
(1) The appellant, Lauren Purnell, filed this appeal from a Superior Court
order dated April 29, 2016, which affirmed her Court of Common Pleas’
convictions for Breach of Release and Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree. In
its answering brief, the State of Delaware asserts that this Court lacks jurisdiction
over Purnell’s appeal because the sentence imposed by the Court of Common Pleas
does not meet the Court’s jurisdictional threshold under the Delaware Constitution.
We agree. Thus, Purnell’s appeal must be dismissed.
(2) The record reflects that the Court of Common Pleas sentenced Purnell
for Breach of Release to thirty days at Level V incarceration to be suspended
entirely for 360 days at Level I probation. Purnell was sentenced for Criminal
Trespass in the Third Degree to a $50 fine, which was suspended.
(3) This Court’s constitutional jurisdiction is limited to criminal appeals
when the sentence is “imprisonment exceeding one month, or fine exceeding One
Hundred Dollars.”1 Purnell’s thirty-day suspended sentence is not a sentence of
imprisonment exceeding one month, and the fine imposed did not exceed $100.
Her sentence fails to meet the jurisdictional threshold.2 Therefore, the appeal must
be dismissed.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the appeal is DISMISSED.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ James T. Vaughn, Jr.
Justice
1
Del. Const. art. IV, § 11(1)(b) (emphasis added).
2
Marker v. State, 450 A.2d 397, 398 (Del. 1982).
2