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JEREMY JOSEPH BOEHRNS,
Appellant,
v.
SOUTH DAKOTA BOARD OF
PARDONS AND PAROLES,

Appellee.

[2005 SD 49]
South Dakota Supreme Court
Appeal from the Circuit Court of
The Second Judicial Circuit
Minnehaha County, South Dakota

Hon. Peter H. Lieberman, Judge

NICHOLE A. CARPER
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Attorney for appellant.

LAWRENCE E. LONG
Attorney General
SHERRI SUNDEM WALD
Assistant Attorney General
Pierre, South Dakota
Attorney for appellee.

Considered on Briefs on February 15, 2005
Opinion Filed 4/20/2005

#23318
SABERS, Justice
[¶1.] Jeremy Boehrns appeals the Board of Pardons and Paroles decision to classify him as a violent offender for parole eligibility under SDCL 24-15A-32. We affirm.
FACTS
[¶2.] On December 23, 1999, Boehrns pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular homicide. While under the influence of alcohol and drugs, Boehrns ran a stop sign while traveling more than fifty miles an hour in a busy intersection in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was involved in a violent collision and Curtis Abrahamson was killed. Boehrns was sentenced on February 9, 2000 and received a fifteen year prison sentence. In pronouncing sentence, the sentencing court indicated:
Mr. Boehrns, I am going to tell you that because this is a class 3 felony and because I believe it would be classified as a violent offense or a crime of violence that you have to serve fifty percent of that sentence, which is seven years and six months, before you can be eligible for parole.
Upon arriving at the penitentiary, Boehrns was classified as a nonviolent offender. In fact, the record established that no other prisoner in the South Dakota system was classified as a violent offender for a conviction related to vehicular homicide. However, on October 16, 2000, Minnehaha County Deputy States Attorney Gail Eiesland sent a letter and a portion of the sentencing transcript to the Department of Corrections (Department). In that letter she indicated that Boehrns’ conviction was deemed a crime of violence by the circuit court. Boehrns' classification was then changed by the Department to “3V

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