After Jennings filed a motion to stop Capriglione from taking office, Jurden held an emergency hearing on the day he was scheduled to be sworn in. She issued a temporary stay on his taking office, ruling that it was not urgent to decide the issue immediately because Newport had a quorum — four or five council members – and could conduct town businesses while she mulled the issue.
But she ruled in May that while “Delaware precedent offers no definitive answer to the precise question of whether a misdemeanor can ever qualify” as an infamous crime under the state constitution, the “circumstances of Capriglione’s case” do qualify as one.
Jurden’s order noted that the question of whether the crime of official misconduct constitutes an infamous crime is a “difficult” and that the Supreme Court “has not decided whether any misdemeanors can ever qualify.”
During oral arguments before the Supreme Court last week, Department of Justice attorney David Skoranski argued that the totality of Capriglione’s actions in uniform as a public official, including his deception of town officials, qualifies his crime as an infamous one.
Capriglione’s attorney, Stephani Ballard, had asserted that Jurden “clearly erred” and argued that her client’s misdemeanor offense was not enough to disqualify him.
She also noted that the constitution and case law bolster the argument that “some but not all felonies” constitute infamous crimes sufficient to bar a candidate from taking office.”
The justices agreed with Ballard, ruling in a one-paragraph order that the “judgment of the Superior Court should be reversed” immediately and Capriglione can take the oath. “A more formal opinion, fully explaining our views, will issue in due course,” the order said.