Delaware’s Supreme Court turned down former Lewes pediatrician Earl Bradley’s appeal of his multiple child rape convictions Thursday.
In a unanimous decision, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled the search of Bradley’s office in 2009 was legal and police acted properly in executing that search.
The decision means Bradley will not get the retrial he sought and his fourteen mandatory life sentences plus 164 years stand.
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden responded to the court’s decision in a statement.
“Earl Bradley will never walk out of prison. We are gratified by the clarity of the Court’s thoughtful and well-crafted decision and the finality that it brings to the legal process,” said Biden. “Our job — to take care of the victims and their families as they heal from these unspeakable crimes — will never end.”
Bradley’s lawyers contended police improperly searched buildings not in the search warrant. They also argued police accessed computer files they were not authorized to search when they discovered videos of Bradley molesting children.
Writing for the Court, Justice Henry duPont Ridgely noted the judge who issued the search warrant “had sufficient facts before him to make a practical, common-sense determination that evidence pertaining to the commission of a crime or crimes could be found in the patients’ medical files, whether in paper or digital format.”
Justice Ridgley also said the court found that “the police acted reasonably in executing the warrant.”
