The
SD Supreme Court handed down two decisions this morning:
- Another ICWA case, affirming termination of parental
rights and denial of motion to transfer to tribe;
- DUI conviction upheld, blood draw found to be
consensual.
Summaries
follows:
INTEREST
OF C.R.W., 2021 S.D. 42: Another ICWA proceeding. The trial court
terminated the rights of both biological parents for this Indian Child, denying
a Motion to Transfer to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Mother and Intervenor
Tribe, appealed. The SD Supreme Court affirmed in this unanimous (4-0)
decision, with opinion authored by Chief Justice Jensen. Justice Kern did
not participate. The issues, as set forth in the opening paragraph of the
Court’s opinion, are as follows:
[¶1.] D.S. (Mother) and
J.R.W. (Father) are the biological parents of C.R.W., who was the subject of an
abuse and neglect proceeding before the circuit court. The Oglala Sioux Tribe
(the Tribe) intervened in the proceeding pursuant to the Indian Child Welfare
Act (ICWA). The Tribe moved to disqualify C.R.W.’s attorney alleging the
attorney had a conflict of interest with C.R.W. because the attorney was not
advocating for C.R.W.’s expressed wishes. During the termination proceedings,
Mother and Tribe moved to transfer the case to tribal court. The circuit court
denied the motion to disqualify C.R.W.’s attorney and the motions to transfer
jurisdiction. The court entered a final dispositional order terminating the
parental rights of both parents. Mother and the Tribe appeal. We affirm.
STATE
v. SLEPIKAS, 2021 S.D. 43: Defendant was convicted of DUI. The sole issue
on appeal relates to Defendant’s consent for a blood draw. (“[Defendant]
twice answered, ‘okay’ in response to the officer’s request to draw his
blood.”) This
decision affirms both the Magistrate Court and the Circuit Court, holding:
[¶26.] Based upon the
totality of the circumstances, the magistrate court’s finding that Slepikas
provided valid, voluntary consent to the blood draw was not clearly erroneous.
We affirm the circuit court’s decision.
This
ruling is unanimous (5-0) with opinion authored by Justice Myren.
These
decisions may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
