Piper v. State ( 2017 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
ROBERT PIPER, §
§
Defendant Below, § No. 518, 2017
Appellant, §
§ Court Below—Court of Common
v. § Pleas of the State of Delaware
§
STATE OF DELAWARE, § Cr. ID No. 1705008720 (S)
§
Plaintiff Below, §
Appellee. §
Submitted: December 18, 2017
Decided: December 20, 2017
Before VAUGHN, SEITZ, and TRAYNOR, Justices.
ORDER
This 20th day of December 2017, having considered the notice to show cause
and the appellant’s response, it appears to the Court that:
(1) On December 5, 2017, the appellant, Robert Piper, filed a notice of
appeal from an August 25, 2017 Court of Common Pleas order sentencing him for a
violation of probation. The Senior Court Clerk issued a notice directing Piper to
show cause why his appeal should not be dismissed based on this Court’s lack of
jurisdiction to consider an appeal directly from the Court of Common Pleas. In his
response to the notice to show cause, Piper argues the merits of his appeal, but does
not address the Court’s lack of jurisdiction.
(2) Piper should have filed his notice of appeal in the Superior Court
within fifteen days of sentencing.1 This Court has no jurisdiction to consider a
criminal appeal directly from the Court of Common Pleas.2 Piper’s appeal must
therefore be dismissed.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, under Supreme Court Rule 29(b),
that this appeal is DISMISSED.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Collins J. Seitz, Jr.
Justice
1
Del. Const. art. IV, § 28; Del. Super. Ct. Crim. R. 39(a).
2
Del. Const. art. IV, § 11(1)(b).
2