The SD Supreme Court handed down two decisions this morning, holding inter alia:
1) Reversal of division of
property issues
2) Reversal of juvenile
placement with DOC
Summaries follows:
CONTI v. CONTI, 2021 S.D. 62: In this divorce proceeding Wife
appeals, asserting error relating to the valuation of and division of property,
as well as the determination of an equalizing payment. The SD Supreme Court reversed and
remanded. The Court found that the
valuation of the marital home was clearly erroneous and that there was a lack
of specific findings in regard to the inclusion of alleged non-marital property
as marital. This decision is unanimous
(5-0) with opinion authored by Justice DeVaney.
INTEREST OF D.S., 2021 S.D. 63: This is an appeal from the
trial court’s adjudication of a 17 year old of 1st degree rape and
subsequent custodial order of commitment with the Department of
Corrections. The SD Supreme Court
reversed and remanded. The situation is
summarized in the initial paragraph of the Court’s opinion:
[¶1.]
Seventeen-year-old D.S. was adjudicated of first-degree rape. Prior to the
dispositional hearing, a psychologist conducted a psychosexual evaluation of
D.S., after which he concluded D.S. had a low risk of recidivism and
recommended community-based outpatient treatment. The circuit court committed
D.S. to the custody of the Department of Corrections (DOC) pursuant to SDCL
26-8C-7. D.S. appeals, arguing the circuit court erred by failing to apply the
statutory requirements for DOC placement under SDCL 26-8C-7(10).
The reversal and remand is described in the final paragraph of
the opinion:
[¶35.] We
reverse and remand for the circuit court to make findings on the viability of a
community-based supervision and treatment alternative and to reimpose a
disposition consistent with the requirements of SDCL 26-8C-7.
This decision is unanimous (5-0), with opinion authored by Chief
Justice Jensen.
These decisions may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
