Qwauntico Ross, Defendant Below, Appellant v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee

Summary

The Supreme Court of Delaware affirmed Ross's five-year minimum mandatory sentence for possessing a firearm as a prohibited person with two prior violent-felony convictions. It held that the firearm statute unambiguously requires counting two guilty-plea convictions obtained on separate occasions, without importing the rehabilitation-opportunity sequencing required under the habitual-offender statute. Justice Ridgely, dissenting, would have required an opportunity to reform after the first conviction before imposing the enhanced mandatory term.