S.Ct. Crim. No. 2007-0063

The Court holds that, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 4(g), a letter from a criminal defendant to the trial judge in which the defendant states his desire to appeal constitutes a valid notice of appeal despite its informality of form or title. Moreover, when a letter from a criminal defendant evidencing his intent to appeal lacks a Superior Court datestamp, but was retroactively docketed by the Superior Court on a date that would render the defendant's appeal timely, the ambiguity should be resolved in favor of the defendant. Finally, the Court holds that, when the Superior Court amends its certified docket entries to correct errors or omissions after the docket entries had already been transmitted to the Supreme Court and to the parties, the Clerk of the Superior Court possesses a duty to notify both the Supreme Court and the parties of any retroactive changes, particularly when the changes are directly relevant to the appeal.