In the first major challenge to the changes made to the probation processes in the wake of the Justice Reinvestment Task Force’s recommendations, the Delaware Supreme Court held that the Superior Court still holds the authority to modify a defendant’s probation. The court issued the opinion when it denied the appeal of a defendant who claimed the new guidelines required the Superior Court to defer to the Department of Correction’s probation recommendations.
In 2004, John H. Benge Jr. pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful interception of communications, two counts of burglary in the third degree, and one count of attempted unlawful interception of communications. A New Castle County judge sentenced him to nine years of Level V incarceration, but suspended the sentence immediately for one year of Level III probation and three years of Level II probation. The trial judge ordered Benge’s probation sentences to run concurrently with the Level III probation he received for previous offenses in Sussex County, according to court documents.
