Townsend v. Delaware

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

STEPHEN L. TOWNSEND, §
§
Defendant Below, § No. 418, 2024
Appellant, §
§ Court Below: Family Court
v. § of the State of Delaware
§
STATE OF DELAWARE, § Cr. ID No. 2405001673
§
Appellee. §

Submitted: October 15, 2024
Decided: October 24, 2024

ORDER

On September 23, 2024, Stephen L. Townsend filed this appeal from an

August 5, 2024 order entered by a Family Court Commissioner in a criminal matter.

The Senior Court Clerk issued, by certified mail, a notice directing Townsend to

show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed because (i) this Court lacks

jurisdiction to entertain, in the first instance, an appeal from Family Court in a

criminal matter,1 and (ii) the appeal was untimely filed.2 The notice instructed

Townsend to respond within ten days and advised that if he did not respond,

1
See 10 Del. C. § 1051(b) (“From any order, ruling, decision or judgment of the Court in any
criminal proceeding, there shall be the right of appeal in the first instance as provided by law to
the Superior Court in the same county in which the case was adjudicated by the Court, with the
further right of appeal as provided by law to the Supreme Court from an affirmance by the Superior
Court of the order of the Court which was appealed, or from the entry of a judgment of conviction
by the Superior Court upon a trial de novo on appeal to that Court.”).
2
Del. Supr. Ct. R. 6.
dismissal of the appeal would be deemed to be unopposed. On October 2, 2024, the

Court received the certified mail receipt indicating that the notice had been

delivered. The appellant having failed to respond to the notice to show cause within

the required ten-day period, dismissal of this action is deemed to be unopposed.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the appeal is DISMISSED under

Supreme Court Rules 3(b) and 29(b).

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Abigail M. LeGrow
Justice

2