Delaware News

Habitual criminal sentenced to 30 years in prison

Criminal Division | Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | Date Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2014



Wilmington – Attorney General Beau Biden announced that a Wilmington man with a lengthy criminal record has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

 

“While still a relatively young man, Arthur Carter had distinguished himself as a career criminal who demonstrated time after time that he is a danger to those closest to him and to society at large,” Biden said.  “Following his conviction for his latest violent crime, he was declared a habitual offender and has been be put behind bars for a very long period of time.  His victims and our communities are safer as a result.”

 

On June 23, 2013, Carter had an altercation with his then-pregnant girlfriend at her residence on North Rodney Drive in the Edgemoor Gardens neighborhood of New Castle County.  According to the resulting criminal investigation, during the argument Carter inflicted minor injuries, threatened to kill her and their unborn child, and fled with her phone only to return a short time later banging on the door and demanding she come outside.  While she and multiple people remained inside the residence, a gun was fired outside the door.  New Castle County Police responded, subsequently interviewed Carter, who had since fled the scene, and charged him with multiple offenses.  Carter was later indicted on the charges of possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and aggravated menacing.

 

On January 7, 2014, after a one day trial and after one hour of deliberating the evidence, a New Castle County Superior Court jury convicted Carter on all charges.  Following his conviction, prosecutor Zoe Plerhoples petitioned the Court to sentence Carter as an habitual offender.  Under Delaware law, offenders convicted of 4 separate and distinct felonies can be declared a “Habitual Offender” and sentenced to enhanced penalties of up to life in prison.  In her petition the prosecutor noted that Carter was intoxicated at the time of the offense and fired the weapon into the air in an attempt to scare the inhabitants of the house, which included at least one child, thereby placing the lives of everyone in the surrounding area at risk.  The prosecutor indicated that this offense was part of a disturbing pattern of impulsive and dangerous criminal acts in a lengthy criminal record spanning a dozen years, beginning when Carter was a 14 year-old juvenile, and including 8 prior adult criminal convictions.  This pattern includes probation violations on multiple convictions, multiple incidents of violent behavior towards intimate partners in the past, the use of a firearm on at least one prior occasion to intimidate another person, and previous adult convictions for Burglary, Aggravated Menacing, Possession with the Intent to Deliver illegal drugs.

 

At his sentencing hearing on April 11, Carter, age 27, of Wilmington, was declared an habitual offender and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, followed by 18 months of intensive probation.  He was also ordered to undergo domestic violence counseling while incarcerated and was ordered to have no contact with his victims.

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Habitual criminal sentenced to 30 years in prison

Criminal Division | Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | Date Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2014



Wilmington – Attorney General Beau Biden announced that a Wilmington man with a lengthy criminal record has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

 

“While still a relatively young man, Arthur Carter had distinguished himself as a career criminal who demonstrated time after time that he is a danger to those closest to him and to society at large,” Biden said.  “Following his conviction for his latest violent crime, he was declared a habitual offender and has been be put behind bars for a very long period of time.  His victims and our communities are safer as a result.”

 

On June 23, 2013, Carter had an altercation with his then-pregnant girlfriend at her residence on North Rodney Drive in the Edgemoor Gardens neighborhood of New Castle County.  According to the resulting criminal investigation, during the argument Carter inflicted minor injuries, threatened to kill her and their unborn child, and fled with her phone only to return a short time later banging on the door and demanding she come outside.  While she and multiple people remained inside the residence, a gun was fired outside the door.  New Castle County Police responded, subsequently interviewed Carter, who had since fled the scene, and charged him with multiple offenses.  Carter was later indicted on the charges of possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and aggravated menacing.

 

On January 7, 2014, after a one day trial and after one hour of deliberating the evidence, a New Castle County Superior Court jury convicted Carter on all charges.  Following his conviction, prosecutor Zoe Plerhoples petitioned the Court to sentence Carter as an habitual offender.  Under Delaware law, offenders convicted of 4 separate and distinct felonies can be declared a “Habitual Offender” and sentenced to enhanced penalties of up to life in prison.  In her petition the prosecutor noted that Carter was intoxicated at the time of the offense and fired the weapon into the air in an attempt to scare the inhabitants of the house, which included at least one child, thereby placing the lives of everyone in the surrounding area at risk.  The prosecutor indicated that this offense was part of a disturbing pattern of impulsive and dangerous criminal acts in a lengthy criminal record spanning a dozen years, beginning when Carter was a 14 year-old juvenile, and including 8 prior adult criminal convictions.  This pattern includes probation violations on multiple convictions, multiple incidents of violent behavior towards intimate partners in the past, the use of a firearm on at least one prior occasion to intimidate another person, and previous adult convictions for Burglary, Aggravated Menacing, Possession with the Intent to Deliver illegal drugs.

 

At his sentencing hearing on April 11, Carter, age 27, of Wilmington, was declared an habitual offender and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, followed by 18 months of intensive probation.  He was also ordered to undergo domestic violence counseling while incarcerated and was ordered to have no contact with his victims.

image_printPrint

Related Topics:  ,


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.