Cooper v. State ( 2019 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
ERIC COOPER, §
§ No. 465, 2018
Defendant Below, §
Appellant, § Court Below: Superior Court of the
§ State of Delaware
v. §
§ Cr. ID No. 0808019339 (K)
STATE OF DELAWARE, §
§
Plaintiff Below, §
Appellee. §
Submitted: November 15, 2018
Decided: February 7, 2019
Before VALIHURA, SEITZ, and TRAYNOR, Justices.
ORDER
Upon consideration of the appellant’s opening brief, the appellee’s motion to
affirm, and the Superior Court record, it appears to the Court that:
(1) The appellant, Eric Cooper, filed a motion for correction of illegal
sentence under Superior Court Criminal Rule 35(a). Cooper claimed that his
sentence exceeded statutory limits and violated double-jeopardy principles. The
Superior Court denied the Rule 35(a) motion as untimely filed and because a
reduction or modification of sentence was not warranted. The State has moved to
affirm the Superior Court’s judgment on the grounds that it is manifest on the face
of Cooper’s opening brief that the appeal is without merit. Having carefully
considered the parties’ positions on appeal, we affirm the Superior Court’s denial of
Cooper’s motion, but we do so for independent and alternative reasons.1
(2) Cooper was tried before a Superior Court jury for offenses arising from
a 2008 home invasion. The evidence at trial established that, shortly before 1:00
a.m. on May 23, 2008, two masked men—Cooper and another man—barged into the
apartment of Eric Ross. Ross was there socializing with four friends—Ian Mason,
Amanda Stevens, Isaiah Mason, and Travis Breitzke. Cooper had a revolver, and
the other man had a shotgun. The intruders ordered Ross and his friends to get on
the floor and empty their pockets. Instead of getting on the floor, Travis Breitzke
ducked into the kitchen and called 911. When Ian Mason stood up and tried to reason
with the intruders, Cooper fired several shots, one of which struck Ian Mason in the
abdomen. The intruders then fled the apartment.
(3) The jury convicted Cooper of one count of Assault in the First Degree
as a lesser-included offense of Attempted Murder in the First Degree; five counts of
Attempted Robbery in the First Degree; three counts of Reckless Endangering in the
First Degree, and one count of Burglary in the First Degree. For each of those
offenses, the jury convicted Cooper of a related count of Possession of a Firearm
During the Commission of a Felony (“PFDCF”). Also, the jury convicted Cooper
1
Wynn v. State, 2014 WL 4670861 (Del. Sept. 19, 2014) (citing Guy v. State, 82 A.3d 710, 712
(Del. 2013)).
2
of Wearing a Disguise During the Commission of a Felony and Conspiracy in the
Second Degree.
(4) When sentencing Cooper, the Superior Court imposed separate,
mandatory terms of Level V incarceration for each of the assault and burglary
convictions, the attempted-robbery convictions, and the PFDCF convictions. For
the reckless-endangering and wearing-a-disguise convictions, the Superior Court
sentenced Cooper to a total of twenty years of Level V incarceration—five years for
each conviction—suspended for probation. For the conspiracy conviction, Cooper
was sentenced to two years of Level V incarceration suspended for probation. On
direct appeal, we affirmed Cooper’s convictions and sentences.2 Thereafter, Cooper
filed motions for postconviction relief under Superior Court Criminal Rule 61. The
Superior Court denied both motions.3 Cooper did not appeal.
(5) Cooper has raised two claims in his appeal from the denial of his motion
for correction of illegal sentence. First, he contends that the fifteen-year Level V
suspended sentence for the three reckless-endangering convictions (five years for
each conviction) and the mandatory two-year Level V sentence for the assault
conviction should have merged because the reckless endangering convictions were
2
Cooper v. State, 2010 WL 1451486 (Del. Apr. 12, 2010).
3
State v. Cooper, 2011 WL 7456938 (Del. Super. Oct. 24, 2011) (denying first postconviction
motion); State v. Cooper, 2013 WL 6407883 (Del. Super. Dec. 6, 2013) (denying second
postconviction motion).
3
lesser-included offenses of the assault conviction. Cooper’s claim is without merit.
There is no merger issue here. None of the three counts of reckless endangering was
charged as a lesser-included offense of the assault count. Cooper was charged,
convicted, and sentenced for assaulting Ian Mason and was charged, convicted, and
sentenced for endangering Amanda Stevens, Isaiah Mason, and Eric Ross.4
(6) In his second claim on appeal, Cooper contends that the separate
sentences imposed for the assault, burglary, attempted robbery, and related PFDCF
convictions should be vacated because the convictions arose out of one incident,
namely, the home invasion on May 23, 2008. The claim is without merit. Cooper’s
conduct during the home invasion constituted distinct crimes of violence against five
victims.5 Imposing a separate punishment for each of those crimes did not violate
principles of double jeopardy and was not illegal.6
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the motion to affirm is
GRANTED. The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Gary F. Traynor
Justice
4
See Wright v. State, 2010 WL 2163851 (Del. May 10, 2010) (finding no merger issue where the
same conduct—shooting into a crowd—led to the defendant’s first-degree reckless endangering
conviction of one victim and second-degree murder conviction of another victim).
5
11 Del. C. § 4201(c) (Supp. 2018) (designating violent felonies).
6
Chandler v. State, 2015 WL 733633 (Del. Feb. 19, 2015); Kile v. State, 382 A.2d 243, 245 (Del.
1978) (citing McCoy v. State, 361 A.2d 241, 242 (Del. 1976)).
4