The SD Supreme Court handed down
one decision this morning, holding inter
alia:
1)
Adjudication
of “delinquent child” reversed
Summary
follows:
IN RE
INTEREST OF I.T.B., 2021 S.D. 39: High school student was adjudicated to be a
"delinquent child" on the basis that he made a terroristic threat
under SDCL 22-8-13(1). The facts
occurred around a lunch period in January, 2020, and were dealt with by the
high school principal, assistant principal and school resource officer. The school's administrative assistant
provided the following testimony in the trial court:
One of the things I heard as [the student] was walking in and
out, one of the words was bomb. And I’m not sure what he said, I just heard the
word bomb. Another of the words that he used was killing someone. And at that
time, he had already come back in and grabbed the scissors that we have in the
office and he said I could just kill someone. And he was laughing and he sa[id]
I’m just kidding. And he set them back down and he went and sat back down. And
he got up again and he was back out again. And then he came back and he was
laying on the floor again. It was just continual.
The SD
Supreme Court conducted an extensive review of the record, concluding:
Because the evidence in the record is insufficient to support a
determination that either of I.T.B.’s statements constitute a terroristic
threat, we reverse the circuit court’s adjudication of I.T.B. as a delinquent
child.
This
decision is unanimous (5-0), with opinion authored by Justice Myren.
This
decision may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
