## Facts

- Sharon H. and Dennis H. were biological half-siblings, sharing the same mother but having different fathers.
- Sharon was adopted about ten days after birth and raised by her adoptive family.
- Dennis became a ward of the state and was raised through state programs.
- As an adult, Sharon located Dennis (then incarcerated), assisted him in obtaining parole, and later married him on July 11, 1979.
- The state charged both defendants with engaging in a prohibited marriage under 13 Del. C. § 102 and with third-degree perjury under 11 Del. C. § 1221, based on sworn statements required by 13 Del. C. § 127.
- The Municipal Court dismissed both counts, reasoning that adoption severed the sibling relationship as a matter of law and that adoption confidentiality provisions barred the state from proving the relationship.
- The state appealed the dismissal.

## Issues

1. Whether an adoptee’s adoption under 13 Del. C. § 919 eliminates a biological half-sibling relationship for purposes of Delaware’s prohibited-marriage statute, 13 Del. C. § 102.
2. Whether adoption confidentiality provisions in Title 13, Chapter 9 bar the state from proving the parties’ blood relationship and thus foreclose prosecution.
3. Whether dismissal of the prohibited-marriage count required dismissal of the related perjury count premised on sworn statements about the relationship.

## Decision

- The Superior Court reversed the Municipal Court’s dismissal and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that adoption terminates legal parental ties but does not erase blood relationships relevant to consanguinity-based marriage prohibitions.
- The court held that adoption-record confidentiality limits access to sealed adoption records but does not create immunity from prosecution or bar proof by other lawful evidence.
- Because prosecution could proceed on the prohibited-marriage theory, the perjury count was also reinstated.

## Legal Principles

- Adoption statutes that sever legal relationships between an adoptee and natural parents do not negate biological consanguinity for purposes of marriage-prohibition statutes aimed at blood relationships.
- Statutory prohibitions on marriage between “brother and sister” include half-siblings related by blood unless the legislature clearly provides otherwise.
- Confidentiality provisions governing sealed adoption materials restrict access to those records; they do not prohibit prosecution or prevent proof of blood relationship through admissible evidence independent of sealed adoption files.
- When a perjury charge depends on the falsity of a sworn statement about consanguinity, it may proceed if the underlying fact (blood relationship) may be proven without violating record-sealing rules.

## Conclusion

The court allowed prosecution for prohibited marriage and related perjury to go forward, holding that adoption changes legal family status but does not eliminate biological relationships for consanguinity restrictions, and that sealed adoption records do not bar the state from proving blood relation through other lawful evidence.


State v. Sharon H., 429 A.2d 1321 (Del. Super. Ct. 1981)