Supreme Court of Delaware
Fields v. State
October 12, 2017
Summary
The Court affirmed the summary dismissal of Fields’ postconviction motion and the denial of appointed counsel. It held that his ineffective-assistance claim could not establish cause to overcome the procedural bar because he could not show that rejecting the plea would probably have produced a better result, given his substantial heroin exposure and sentencing risk. The Court also held that his knowing, intelligent, and voluntary guilty plea waived his independent claims concerning the search, Miranda warnings, and prosecutorial misconduct.