Isaiah W. McCoy, Defendant Below-Appellant v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below-Appellee

Summary

The court reversed McCoy's convictions and vacated his death sentences because the trial court improperly denied his race-neutral peremptory challenge to a juror and because the prosecutor improperly vouched for a key witness, prejudicing McCoy's right to a fair trial. The court held that Delaware law requires a new trial when a defendant's valid peremptory challenge is erroneously denied, and rejected McCoy's sufficiency, accomplice-instruction, and capital-sentencing-statute challenges. The court did not decide whether the prosecutor's broader unprofessional conduct independently required reversal, but warned that it must not recur.