Convicted Killer Must Stay in Jail

Insurance Fraudster and Killer Wastes the Court's Time With Frivolous Action

Pro Se Party Has a Fool for a Client

In State Of Delaware v. Ryan Shover, ID No. 1511001640, Superior Court of Delaware (May 15, 2023) the appellate court dealt with proceedings by convicted murderer and insurance fraudster, Ryan Shover who acted as his own attorney.

F
ACTS

Ryan Shover was found guilty of two counts of Murder First Degree, two counts of Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony, First Degree Conspiracy, and Insurance Fraud.  The Supreme Court of Delaware issued its Mandate affirming the judgment of the Superior Court. Defendant then filed a pro se Motion for Post-conviction Relief and Motion for Appointment of Counsel and the Superior Court granted the Motion for Appointment of Counsel.

The appointed Counsel filed a Motion to Withdraw and informed the Court that, after a thorough review of the record, Defendant's claims lacked merit and there were no additional meritorious claims that he could ethically present.

Defendant then filed pro se a Motion for Reconsideration of his Post-conviction Motion and a second pro se Motion to Compel. The Court denied Defendant's second Motion to Compel as moot on the same basis that it denied his first Motion to Compel.

ANALYSIS

Appointed Counsel advised the court that he concluded that Defendant's claims lacked sufficient merit to the point that he could not ethically advocate Defendant's position. In the Motion to Withdraw, appointed Counsel engaged in a detailed analysis of Defendant's claims before concluding that they were devoid of merit.

With respect to Defendant's Motion for Post-conviction Relief, Superior Court Criminal Rule 61(a) states such motions must be based on a sufficient factual or legal basis. Superior Court Criminal Rule 61(b)(2) requires that post-conviction motions "specify all grounds for relief which are available to the movant . . . and shall set forth in summary form the facts supporting each of the grounds thus specified."

After a review of the Motion for Post-conviction Relief and Motion to Withdraw, in addition to the applicable legal authorities, it was evident to the appellate court that Defendant's grounds for relief had no merit.

In addition, the court concluded that Defendant's constitutional right to confront witnesses was not violated by a witness refreshing his recollection with the FBI agent's typewritten notes of that witness' prior out of court statement because the State was permitted to refresh a witness' recollection in this manner pursuant to Delaware Rule of Evidence 612. It was the witness' in court testimony, not the typewritten notes of that witness' prior statement, that constituted the evidence that went to the jury.

Therefore, appointed Counsel's Motion to Withdraw was granted and Defendant's Pro Se Motion for Post-conviction Relief was summarily dismissed.

ZALMA OPINION

Courts tend to protect the rights of a pro se party, even a convicted murderer, but should reconsider that tendency. The Delaware court provided an attorney to deal with the defendant's motion for post-conviction relief only to have that lawyer move to be relieved because there was no basis in fact or law for the relief sought and it would be unethical for counsel to represent Ryan Shover. Bending over backwards the appellate court considered the spurious arguments, wrote a detailed opinion, and denied relief. Shoyer will serve his full sentence.

(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.

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