Wheeler v. Delaware
Annotate this CaseDefendant-appellant Stephen Wheeler Stephen Wheeler was convicted in on four felonies for his role in a violent home invasion. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. After the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed those convictions, Wheeler returned to the superior court seeking postconviction relief in the form of a new trial. He argued his convictions were the product of an ill-advised waiver of his right to have his case heard and decided by a jury. According to Wheeler, his lawyer counseled him to let a judge, sitting without a jury, determine his guilt or innocence. Wheeler contended that he gave up a vitally important constitutional right because of his lawyer’s constitutionally deficient representation and that his convictions were so tainted by that decision that they could not stand. The superior court denied the motion for relief based primarily on its assessment of the relative credibility of Wheeler and his trial counsel: crediting counsel’s account of the advice he had shared with Wheeler, while discounting Wheeler’s version. The court also found, after hearing from Wheeler and his trial counsel at a postconviction evidentiary hearing, that Wheeler had made an informed strategic decision to proceed with a bench trial. Deferring to these credibility determinations, and finding no other reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Wheeler's motion.
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