Preview:

STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA,
Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
LYLE EDGAR NELSON,

Defendant and Appellant.

South Dakota Supreme Court
Appeal from the Second Judicial Circuit, Minnehaha County, SD
Hon. William J. Srstka Jr., Judge
#20356--Reversed

Mark Barnett, Attorney General
Paul Cremer, Assistant Attorney General, Pierre, SD
Attorneys for Plaintiff and Appellee.

Jeff Larson, Minnehaha County Public Defender's Office, Sioux Falls, SD
Attorneys for Defendant and Appellant.

Argued Oct 20, 1998; Opinion Filed Dec 16, 1998


KONENKAMP, Justice.
[¶1] At inquiry in this case is whether a trial court must follow fundamental procedures for conducting a jury trial. Although it provided complete written instructions to the jury, the court at the close of the evidence failed to read all the instructions as required by law, including those on the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof. The court also sent out thirteen jurors to deliberate, over the strenuous objections of the State and with the uninformed consent of the pro se defendant. We conclude that these actions created plain error, cumulatively prejudicial to the integrity of judicial proceedings. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

FACTS
[¶2] On March 12, 1997, the Sioux Falls Humane Society received a report of starving horses. Officer Dave Bartscher went to investigate. South Dakota was still in the throes of one of its severest winters. Four to six foot drifts extended across the dirt road leading to the pasture where the horses were kept and the ground was snow covered. Bartscher detected no tire tracks or footprints in the snow leading to the area. Inside a corral he found two dead horses and in the pasture, one "extremely thin" filly. In an old tire, the officer saw a small quantity of moldy feed, but he could find no provisions for water. A day later, the surviving horse was retrieved and treated. The two dead horses were autopsied, revealing that neither had any body fat at the time of death. Both died of chronic malnutrition. Lyle Nelson owned the horses.
[¶3] Nelson was charged with three counts of inhumane treatment of animals, in violation of SDCL 40-1

Download 295292.pdf

South Dakota Law