Judge rules against separating charges in drug gang case

A Delaware Superior Court judge has ruled against holding separate trials for charges of murder and home invasion in the case of two men arrested in June 2015 in connection with a large-scale crime ring in Kent and Sussex counties.

Attorneys for Steven Kellam, Richard Robinson and Rhamir Waples were seeking to sever charges of home invasion from first-degree murder charges related to a 2014 double homicide. Patrick Collins, representing Kellam; John Deckers, representing Robinson; and Thomas Pedersen, representing Waples, all argued that a jury would be prejudiced against their clients if they viewed evidence of the murders of Cletis Nelson and William Hopkins on Harmons Hill Road in Millsboro, along with evidence of separate home invasions the men are alleged to have committed. If granted, each man would have had one trial for the murder and a second trial for the home invasion charges.

Prosecutor Chris Hutchison argued that the home invasions and the murders are interrelated and should not be severed. He said the group, arrested as part of Delaware State Police operation “In The House,” constituted an organized crime gang, with Kellam as the leader. Hutchison said Kellam, 36, would get information on drug houses, recruit people from out-of-state, typically Waples and Robinson, and have them rob the drug house, taking the drugs and any loose cash. Deckers equated Kellam with the character of Omar from the TV series “The Wire,” who also robbed drug dealers. Hutchison said the murders of Nelson and Hopkins were organized by Kellam, who received information from Rachel Rentoul, a girlfriend of Nelson, that there were drugs and cash in Nelson’s home.

Kellam then drove to the home in a car with Carlton Gibbs, 42, while 26-year-old Shamir Stratton, Waples, Robinson and Damon Bethea, 31, arrived in another car. Hutchison said Kellam gave the order to Stratton to take the drugs and kill anyone in the house.

Collins argued that the gang’s motivation before the murders was not home invasion, but revenge for another gang member who had been beaten up by Hopkins. He said the gang was not expecting Nelson to be in the house.

Judge T. Henley Graves denied the motions to sever in the cases of Kellam and Waples, 20, but stayed his ruling in the case of Robinson, 22, because Robinson gave a confession to police that he was involved in the murders. Deckers also argued that witnesses will not identify Robinson as taking part in home invasions. Gibbs will face only murder charges because the attorneys agreed he did not take part in any other home invasions. All of the defendants face life in prison if convicted.

Judge T. Henley Graves ruled not to sever the cases of Kellam and Waples, saying that in Kellam’s case, the home invasion charges will show how other people “danced to his tune.” He compared the case to a Mafia-style racketeering case, with a group of people getting together and committing crimes, in this case, going after drug dealers.