Delaware Trial Handbook § 4:9. ALIBI

The defense of alibi is simply a denial of any connection with the crime and is based upon evidence that the defendant was somewhere other than at the place the crime was alleged to have been committed at the time it was alleged to have been committed.95 As alibi is merely a denial of the crime; it is not properly characterized as an affirmative defense.96

95. Gardner v. State, 397 A.2d 1372, 1373 (Del. 1979); State v. Massey,  82 A. 243, 244-45 (Del. Gen. Sess. 1911); State v. Roberts, 78 A. 305, 309 (Del. Super. 1910), aff’d, 79 A. 396 (Del. 1911).

96. Brown v. State, 958 A.2d 833, 839 (Del. 2008); Rogers v. State, 343 A.2d 608, 614 (Del. 1975); Halko v. State, 175 A.2d 42, 49 (Del. 1961).

© 2010  David L. Finger