The
SD Supreme Court handed down one decision this morning, holding inter alia:
Ingestion guilty plea not a basis for CGL disqualification
STANLEY
v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, 2023 S.D. 13:
Defendant pled guilty to unauthorized ingestion of a controlled drug or
substance. Defendant’s arrest occurred
while he was operating a motorcycle. DPS
notified Defendant that his CGL was disqualified for 1 year as a result of his
guilty plea. The ALJ agreed with
DPS. The Circuit Court reversed. The SD Supreme Court upheld the Circuit
Court, stating:
[¶15.] The felony ingestion
statute in SDCL 22-42-5.1 prohibits a person from “knowingly ingest[ing] a
controlled drug or substance or hav[ing] a controlled drug or substance in an
altered state in the body . . . .” There is no evidence or showing that Stanley
utilized the motorcycle to commit the crime of ingestion of a controlled
substance. The offense as committed by Stanley in this case is therefore not
subject to mandatory CDL disqualification within SDCL 32-12A-36(4).
This
decision is unanimous (5-0), with opinion authored by Chief Justice
Jensen.
This
decision may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
