Taylor v. State

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
MARK TAYLOR, §
§ No. 563, 2017
Defendant Below, §
Appellant, § Court Below: Superior Court
§ of the State of Delaware
v. §
§ ID. No. 1512004805 (S)
STATE OF DELAWARE, §
§
Plaintiff Below, §
Appellee. §
Submitted: April 27, 2018
Decided: July 9, 2018
Before VALIHURA, VAUGHN, and SEITZ, Justices.
ORDER
The Court has considered the parties’ briefs in this appeal from the Superior
Court’s opinion denying Mark Taylor’s motion for postconviction relief under
Superior Court Criminal Rule 61.1 We affirm the Superior Court’s judgment. When
deciding that Taylor’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim was without
substantive merit, it was within the Superior Court’s discretion to credit defense
counsel’s averments that he “strongly advised” Taylor against taking a plea until
counsel had an opportunity to review discovery.2 “A criminal defendant has
‘ultimate authority to make certain fundamental decisions regarding the case [such
1
State v. Mark Taylor, 2017 WL 6029302 (Del. Super. Ct. Nov. 30, 2017).
2
Id. at *3.
as] whether to plead guilty, waive a jury, testify in his or her own behalf, or take an
appeal.’”3
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the Superior
Court is AFFIRMED.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ James T. Vaughn, Jr.
Justice
3
Emmett Taylor v. State, 28 A.3d 399, 406 (Del. 2011) (quoting Jones v. Barnes, 463 U.S. 745,
751 (1983)).
2