Matta v. State

── Matta v. State ── Court: Supreme Court of Delaware Date: April 29, 2026 Category: General IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE GARY MATTA, § § Defendant Below, § No. 514, 2024 Appellant, § § Court Below: Superior Court v. § of the State of Delaware § STATE OF DELAWARE, § Cr. ID No. 2303016736 (N) § Appellee. § Submitted: March 11, 2026 Decided: April 29, 2026 Before SEITZ, Chief Justice; VALIHURA, TRAYNOR, LEGROW, and GRIFFITHS, Justices, constituting the Court en Banc. ORDER The Court, having considered the briefs and the record below, and after oral argument, rules as follows: (1) A Superior Court jury found Gary Matta guilty of five counts of first- degree unlawful sexual intercourse and one count of second-degree unlawful sexual contact. The court sentenced him to an aggregate of 85 years of unsuspended incarceration. On appeal, Matta argues that the Superior Court erred by allowing the complaining witness to testify that Matta was “kicked out” of the Boy Scouts, and that his family members knew that Matta was abusing him. We hold that admitting the Boy Scout testimony was harmless error and that the court did not plainly err by admitting testimony about the family members’ knowledge of Matta’s abuse. Thus, we affirm his convictions. (2) The evidence at trial showed that, in the spring of 1988, when D.M. was eleven years old, he joined the Boy Scouts and met Matta, a Scoutmaster.1 Matta took an interest in D.M. That summer, D.M. began accompanying his cousin J.P. to sleepovers at Matta’s apartment in Newark, Delaware.2 According to the State, Matta sexually abused D.M. during these visits with increasing frequency.3 Even so, from ages eleven to sixteen, to escape his chaotic and abusive home life, D.M. spent most school-year weekends and summer weeks staying with Matta.4 When D.M. turned sixteen, Matta became D.M.’s legal guardian. D.M. moved into Matta’s apartment and began attending school in Newark.5 D.M. lived on-and-off with Matta throughout his twenties.6 D.M. left for good in the early 2010s, when he was about thirty-two years old.7 1 App. to Opening Br. at A146–48 [hereinafter A_]. 2 A148–53. 3 A162–64. 4 A140, A166, A168, A175. 5 A169–70. 6 A176. 7 A248–50, A254. 2  (3) In 2014 or 2015, D.M. told a friend that Matta had sexually abused him when he was younger.8 The friend contacted the Boy Scouts. In 2020, the Scouts informed Newark Police Detective Greg Micolucci of D.M.’s allegations.9 Initially, D.M. did not cooperate, but in 2022, he contacted Detective Micolucci, who reopened the investigation.10 The police eventually charged Matta with five counts of first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse and one count of second-degree unlawful sexual contact.11 At the end of a three-day jury trial in March 2024, the jury convicted Matta of all charges. (4) Matta argues on appeal that two areas of evidence should have been excluded at trial. First, the State asked D.M. how long he participated in the Scouts, to which D.M. responded: Two, three years I think I went to the Scouts before [Matta] was kicked out. Or at least that’s what I heard, he was kicked out. I don’t know the specifics of that, so I want to be clear about that. Just I heard that he was kicked out. I knew he was out of the Scouts.12 At sidebar, Matta’s counsel moved “to strike that testimony as prejudicial” because his “being kicked out of Scouts was political. It had nothing to do with molesting 8 A