State v. Edgar, 1508012447

In August 2015 Coty Edgar (a convicted felon) was stopped by police; officers found an unloaded firearm in the trunk and Edgar admitted he placed it there. He was convicted of possession of a firearm by a person prohibited.
Edgar’s prior record included a 2007 Assault 1st conviction and a 2009 Escape After Conviction (a three‑day “walk away” from the Plummer Center).
Prior to 2015, Delaware’s statutory definition of “violent felony” in 11 Del. C. §4201(c) included all escape‑after‑conviction offenses; that classification could trigger enhanced mandatory minimums under the person‑prohibited statute, 11 Del. C. §1448(e).
In 2015 the General Assembly amended §4201(c) to exclude escape‑after‑conviction from the “violent felony” list unless the escape was a Class B or C (i.e., involved force, a weapon, or injury); the amendment became effective June 15, 2015.
Edgar committed the person‑prohibited offense on August 4, 2015 — after the 2015 amendment — and the State sought a 10‑year mandatory minimum based on Edgar’s two prior “violent felony” convictions (assault and the pre‑amendment escape).
The court was asked to decide whether the 2015 amendment (which removed nonviolent escapes from the “violent felony” definition) precluded using Edgar’s 2009 escape conviction as a predicate for enhanced sentencing when the current offense occurred after the amendment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a prior conviction that was a "violent felony" when committed remains a qualifying "violent felony" for enhancement even after the legislature removed it from the statutory definition	The State: §211 (savings clause) preserves penalties and thus the prior escape conviction remains a "violent felony" for enhancement regardless of the 2015 repeal of that designation	Edgar: The 2015 amendment reclassified nonviolent escapes; because his current offense occurred after the amendment, the escape no longer counts as a violent felony for enhancement	The court rejected the State’s savings‑clause argument and held the 2009 walk‑away escape does not qualify as a violent felony for enhancement of Edgar’s 2015 offense; sentenced under the lower applicable mandatory term (5 years)

French v. State, 38 A.3d 289 (Del. 2012) (addressed use of prior convictions for habitual/violent‑felony sentencing; did not decide effect of subsequent legislative reclassification)
State v. Ismaaeel, 840 A.2d 644 (Del. Super. 2004) (discussed common‑law effect of repeal on prosecutions)
State v. Lewis, 144 A.3d 1109 (Del. 2016) (explains application of Delaware’s criminal savings statute to offenses committed before repeal)
Barkley v. State, 724 A.2d 558 (Del. 1999) (defines collateral consequences as not affecting sentence length or nature)
Kipp v. State, 704 A.2d 839 (Del. 1998) (failure to inform defendant of collateral consequences of conviction is not reversible error)