Neal v. State, 873 A.2d 1099 (Del. 2005)

Cases | Neal v. State, 873 A.2d 1099 (Del. 2005) | 2018

The defendant and alleged drug buyer were arrested on drug charges. The defendant yelled threats to the alleged drug buyer upon seeing him in a holding cell and was convicted of tampering with a witness and failure to submit to fingerprinting. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the evidence was not sufficient to support his convictions. Specifically, the defendant claimed that in order to prove tampering with a witness, the State was required to present the witness at trial or to show the steps it took to subpoena the witness to testify at trial. The court held that the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that the defendant intimidated the alleged drug buyer to not give evidence to the police. The statute did not require the State to present the witness at trial or to show the steps it took to subpoena the witness. The State presented evidence that the alleged drug buyer was a “witness” because he was observed participating with the defendant in a suspected drug sale. The State also presented the police officer’s testimony that after the defendant’s threats, the alleged drug buyer refused to continue answering the officer’s questions.