Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 116

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO CRIMES BY IMPOSING CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR RIOTS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:

Section 1. Title 11, Delaware Code, is amended by adding thereto a new section to read :

§363. Riot, prima facie evidence; liability for conduct of another

(a) A person is guilty of riot when he participates with 2 or more persons in a course of disorderly conduct:

(1) with intent to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony or misdemeanor ; or

(2) with intent to prevent or coerce official action ; or

(3) when the accused or any other participant to the knowledge of the accused uses or plans to use a firearm or other deadly weapon.

(b) In any prosecution for riot it is prima facie evidence of participation in the riot that the accused was present at the scene of the riot, not assisting to suppress it.

(c) Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a felony and shall be imprisoned for not less than 3 years nor more than 10 years and shall not be eligible for probation or parole during the first 3 years of his sentence.

(d) Any person over 16 years old who violates the provisions of this section shall be prosecuted as an adult.

(e) A person is guilty of an offense under this section committed by another person when :

(1) acting with the state of mind that is sufficient for commission of the offense, he causes an innocent or irresponsible person to engage in conduct constituting the offense; or

(2) intending to promote or facilitate the commission of the offense he :

solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to commit it ; or

(i) aids, counsels, or agrees or attempts to aid the other person in planning or committing it; or

() having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense, fails to make a proper effort to do so ; or

(3) his conduct is expressly declared by a statute of this state to establish his complicity.

(f) In any prosecution for an offense under this section in which the criminal liability of the accused is based upon the conduct of another person pursuant to this section, it is no defense that:

(1) the other person is not guilty of the offense in question because of irresponsibility or other legal incapacity or exemption, or because of unawareness of the criminal nature of the conduct in question or of the accused's criminal purpose, or because of other factors precluding the mental state required for the commission of the offense ; or

(2) the other person has not been prosecuted for or convicted of any offense based on the conduct in question, or has previously been acquitted thereof, or has been convicted of a different offense or in a different degree, or has legal immunity from prosecution for the conduct in question.

(g) Disorderly conduct as used in this section means a course of conduct by a person who :

(1) causes public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creates a risk thereof, by

(i) engaging in fighting or in violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior ; or

() making an unreasonable noise or an offensive coarse utterance, gesture, or display, or addressing abusive language to any person present; or

() dispersing any lawful procession or meeting of per-

sons, not being a peace officer of this state and without lawful authority; or

(iv) creating a hazardous or physically offensive condition which serves no legitimate purpose; or

(2) engages with at least one other person in a course of disorderly conduct as defined in subparagraph (1) of this subsection which is likely to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, and refuses or knowingly fails to obey an order to disperse made by a peace officer to the participants.

Approved August 4, 1967.