Sells v. State

• Decision Date: 27 January 2015
• Docket Number: No. 429, 2013,429, 2013
• Parties: William S. Sells, III, Defendant–Below, Appellant, v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff–Below, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Delaware

109 A.3d 568

William S. Sells, III, Defendant–Below, Appellant

v.State of Delaware, Plaintiff–Below, Appellee.

No. 429, 2013

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: December 10, 2014

Decided: January 27, 2015

Revised: January 29, 2015

Andre Beauregard, Esquire (argued ), Brown, Shiels & Beauregard, LLC, Dover, Delaware, and Adam D. Windett, Esquire, Hopkins & Windett, LLC, Dover, Delaware, for Appellant.

John Williams, Esquire (argued ), Department of Justice, Dover, Delaware, for Appellee.

Before STRINE, Chief Jus ti ce, HOLLAND, RIDGELY, VALIHURA and VAUGHN, Justices, constituting the Court en Banc.

Opinion

VALIHURA, Justice:

Defendant–Below, Appellant William S. Sells, III (“Sells”) appeals from a Superior Court judgment where the jury found Sells guilty of Robbery in the First Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, Wearing a Disguise During the Commission of a Felony, six counts of Aggravated Menacing, and five counts of Reckless Endangering in the Second Degree. Sells was sentenced as follows: as to Robbery First Degree, twenty-five years at Level V incarceration pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 4214 ; as to Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, twenty-five years at Level V incarceration pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 4214 ; as to Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, eight years at Level V incarceration pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 4214 ; as to Wearing a Disguise During the Commission of a Felony, five years at Level V incarceration pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 4214 ; as to six counts of Aggravated Menacing, five years at Level V incarceration pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 4214 on each count; and as to five counts of Reckless Endangering Second Degree, one year at Level V incarceration pursuant to 11 Del. C. § 4214 on each count. Thus, Sells was sentenced as a habitual offender to an aggregate Level V sentence of ninety-eight years. A timely notice of appeal was filed on August 16, 2013.

Sells raises two arguments on appeal. First, Sells argues that the Superior Court erred when it denied his motion to sever his trial from his co-defendant's, Russell Grimes (“Grimes”). Sells contends that Grimes would have provided exculpatory evidence if the trials had been severed. Second, Sells argues that the Superior Court erred in finding one of his peremptory challenges of a white juror violated the United States Constitution, and that it erred in upholding the State's Batson¹ challenge. We agree with Sells as to his second claim and, therefore, need not reach the first claim. Accordingly, the judgment below is reversed as to Sells' conviction.²

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY³

On August 26, 2011, a masked man entered the First National Bank of Wyoming in Felton, Delaware (the “Bank”), displayed what appeared to be a firearm, ordered the Bank manager to exit her office, and told the tellers to empty the cash drawers. During the robbery, the man jumped over a counter in the Bank and blood was later discovered on the ceiling above that counter.⁴ The man placed the money from the cash drawers into a satchel and exited the Bank. These events were recorded on the Bank's security cameras. The money taken from the Bank contained dye packs, a security device designed to stain money taken from the Bank, and “bait bills,” bills for which the bank had recorded and maintained serial numbers in case of theft. Over $53,000 was taken from the Bank.

When the suspect exited the Bank, he entered a black SUV. An employee of the Bank who ran outside during the robbery testified that she saw the SUV driving away from the Bank and that the SUV was emitting “pink, red smoke” which indicated to her that the dye pack had gone off. Officer Keith Shyers of the Harrington Police Department (“Officer Shyers”) also observed the SUV, and testified that he saw a black male “hanging out [of] the window” of the SUV and a “red poof” that “looked like some kind of paint.”

Because the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed and he thought something was suspicious, Officer Shyers turned around and began following the SUV. Officer Shyers then heard a call that went out over the radio dispatch for a robbery that had just occurred at the Bank. Officer Shyers was the first officer to begin pursuing the car and was the lead vehicle for much of the pursuit. A few minutes into the pursuit, the SUV stopped at an intersection and the passenger got out of the vehicle and began firing shots at the pursuing officers. Officer Shyers testified that he was approximately 20 to 30 feet from the passenger and that the passenger was a black male wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt.

The passenger then got back in the SUV and a high-speed pursuit ensued involving officers from the Delaware State Police, Harrington Police Department, and Felton Police Department. At various points during the pursuit, the passenger popped up through the sunroof and fired shots at the officers. The left rear tire on Officer Shyer's vehicle was shot and he abandoned his vehicle and jumped in another officer's car to continue the pursuit.

Corporal Scott Torgerson, an assistant shift supervisor for the Delaware State Police (“Corporal Torgerson”), who was driving a fully-marked Crown Victoria, took over as the lead vehicle in the pursuit. The passenger continued to fire shots at the officers from the sunroof. The SUV drove around spike strips that had been set in its path and Corporal Torgerson continued to pursue it. Shortly thereafter, the driver lost control of the SUV and it came to rest in a ditch with its back tires stuck. The driver and the passenger both exited the SUV and began fleeing and Corporal Torgerson fired shots at them. The driver of the SUV was shot in the leg by Corporal Torgerson and was later identified as Grimes. The passenger of the vehicle escaped on foot.

The SUV was registered to Sophia Jones (“Jones”). Jones was Sells' girlfriend. Jones and Sells shared an apartment and had a child together. Jones testified that she did not know who was driving the SUV at the time of the bank robbery because she had not seen the SUV in over a week, but that the last time she had seen the SUV, Sells had been driving it. She testified that Sells had the SUV because he was trying to sell it.

After the robbery, police officers searched the apartment that Jones and Sells shared and asked her questions. Jones gave the officers Sells' cell phone number and told them that Sells' best friend was named “Russell.” On August 28, 2011, Jones contacted the police and inquired about getting her SUV back. The officers asked Jones if Sells had contacted her, and she replied that he had called her, inquired about his son, and asked whether the police had been to the apartment because he had heard about the SUV being in an incident with Grimes.

On September 6, 2011, Sells was found barricaded in a room at the Shamrock Motel. The SWAT team deployed tear gas grenades, smoke grenades, stringball grenades,⁵ and stun grenades into the room through a small bathroom window that opened to the outside in order to get Sells to exit the room, but those efforts were unsuccessful. The officers used so many of the various types of grenades that Sergeant Ennis testified that he had “no idea how [Sells] stayed” in the room.⁶

When the standoff ended and Sells was taken into custody, United States currency was collected from three separate locations of the motel room: in the living room, in the bathroom, and outside the motel underneath the bathroom window. Many of the bills that were collected as evidence at the motel were torn and burned. Some of the money that was collected in the living room area of the motel room also appeared to be stained with a red dye. Sells' defense counsel elicited testimony on cross examination that the red stains on the currency could have been caused by some of the explosives, which discharge red dye. A large red stain also appeared on one of the walls of the motel room. Around 50 bills were collected from the motel room ranging in denominations from $1 to $50. The total value of the money collected was at most $769.⁷

Witnesses testified that Sells had used $475 of money with a red dye stain to purchase cigarettes, and that 34 of those bills matched bait bills that were taken from the Bank. One of Sells' female companions also testified that Sells used $3,500 in cash to purchase a car and that some of that money had red on it. That money was never recovered.

On November 7, 2011, Sells was indicted on one count of Robbery First Degree, one count of Conspiracy Second Degree, one count of Conspiracy First Degree, two counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, two counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, one count of Wearing a Disguise During the Commission of a Felony, six counts of Aggravated Menacing, one count of Felony Theft, and five counts of Attempted Murder First Degree. On November 29, 2011, Sells entered a plea of not guilty and requested a trial by jury. On April 10, 2013, Sells filed a motion to sever (the “First Motion to Sever”) his trial from that of his co-defendant, Grimes. That motion, while not included in the record before us, appears to have been based on a claim that Sells and Grimes planned to present defenses that were antagonistic to one another. A hearing was held on the motion on April 18, 2013, and Sells was given an opportunity to file a supplemental memorandum of law on April 23, 2013. The Court denied the First Motion to Sever on April 30, 2013, and scheduled trial to begin on May 7, 2013. On May 1, 2013, Sells filed a new motion to sever (the “Second Motion to Sever”).⁸

The Second Motion to Sever stated that Sells' defense counsel met with Grimes on April 30, 2013, and that Grimes made statements that could have potentially exonerated Sells of any wrongdoing. Sells argued that he would be extremely prejudiced by the absence of the exculpatory testimony...