Dear Family and Friends,

I hope by the time you all are reading this you and your family are safe and in good spirits. The purpose of this letter is to address the issues of aggravated sentencing and work toward change. Aggravated sentencing is defined as:

Aggravating circumstances refers to factors that increases the severity or culpability of a criminal act. Typically, the presence of an aggravating circumstance will lead to a harsher penalty for a convicted criminal. Some generally recognized aggravating circumstances include heinousness of the crime, lack of remorse, and prior conviction of another crime. Recognition of particular aggravating circumstances varies by jurisdiction.

October 18, 2019, Delaware State Prosecutor (Mark Denney) recommended a term of 70yrs following a guilty verdict from my trial. The judge (Honorable Judge Cooch who retired a month later) decided to sentence me to 54yrs of incarceration under Statue 4204 k. Under this statue, I am unable to accrue any “good time”, I will not be eligible for any type of early release which is earned through work programs, good behavior, and other early release programs. (4204k statute was removed April 2021....other sentencing orders remained the same) Prior to trial, a pre-sentence investigation was completed and based off criminal history it was deemed a 2-5-year sentence would be suitable. Prior to my current charges I incurred one felony charge approximately 7+ years ago and have not been arrested for any other major criminal behavior since.  The purpose of this letter is to bring awareness to the excessive sentencing that I have been subjected to. My bail was set at 2 million dollars which is insane for the charges that the state stacked on me, and I never was offered a Plea, just forced to stay in prison and away from my family from the very beginning. I have never been a threat to my community, and I am not a violent individual.

I am a father of 5 young girls who need me, I am a husband, a brother, and a friend to many in my community. My fight is so that I can be present in the lives of my family who need me. Aggravated sentencing contributes to a vast majority of minorities serving extensive prison terms as well as mass incarceration. I ask for the support of those in my community as well as those who have been impacted by the injustices of “excessive sentencing” in hopes to make a change and be given another chance.

Respectfully,

Dwayne White