State v. Smallwood

DUFFY, Justice:

The determinative question in this appeal involves the construction of a robbery statute.

I

In a jury trial defendant was convicted of robbery in the first degree, 11 Del.C. § 832(2), under circumstances which, for present purposes, are not in dispute. Thereafter the Trial Judge, sua sponte, reduced the conviction to robbery in the second degree, 11 Del.C. § 831, because the victims did not actually see a weapon in the possession of defendant or a co-participant. During the robbery one of the par ticipants had placed a hand in his jacket pocket and pointed it in the direction of…