Delaware Supreme Court dismisses Brewer appeal

The Delaware Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a Maryland man seeking $10 million in damages under Delaware’s new wrongful conviction and compensation act, ruling that the case still needs to play out in the lower courts. 

Phillip Brewer, who will be 30 in January, is seeking damages from the state after he spent three years in prison for two charges that were later dropped. Brewer had filed a motion for default judgment under the Wrongful Conviction Compensation and Services Act, a new state law that went into effect in June. It allows individuals who have had convictions overturned via acquittal or dismissal of charges, or have been found to be factually innocent of the crime or crimes at issue, to seek financial compensation via a process similar to a civil suit. Those seeking compensation are entitled to a hearing where they can introduce evidence presented at trial, trial transcripts and police reports. 

Brewer had his hearing scheduled for Nov. 4, but when Superior Court Judge Mark Conner saw that Brewer was representing himself pro se, he deemed it inappropriate to hold the hearing at that time. Brewer is being advised on the case by Cape High grad Krystle Gardner-Blackwell, who is a licensed attorney in Maryland but not Delaware. Conner told Brewer that Gardner-Blackwell could only advise him on the case outside the courtroom and recommended Brewer seek a Delaware-licensed attorney, which Brewer agreed to do. At the same hearing, Conner denied Brewer’s motion for default judgment. 

Brewer then appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal Dec. 12, based on the fact that the Superior Court has not given a final judgment on the case. In a statement, Brewer said the state should allocate his request for $10 million. In addition, Gardner-Blackwell said Brewer has filed grievances against Conner and the two deputy attorneys general on the case for failing to respond to Brewer’s suit.    

In 2013, at the age of 17, Brewer was one of four teenagers arrested and prosecuted for the abduction of then-89-year-old Margaret Smith. Brewer ended up taking a guilty plea to charges of second-degree kidnapping and carjacking in Smith’s abduction. He had testified against his co-defendants, Junia McDonald, Jackeline Perez and Rondaiges Harper, at trial and at pretrial hearings. 

Ultimately, McDonald and Perez took guilty pleas and were given jail sentences. Harper, who died in 2017, was originally convicted at trial, but his conviction was overturned on appeal and the state declined to retry him. 

Brewer was the last of the four to be sentenced, but in February 2016, the state dropped the charges against him and he was released. He maintains his innocence of any wrongdoing.