The South Dakota Supreme Court continues to operate during the pandemic shut-down. One exception is that the court rescheduled March oral arguments, pushing them to the April term. Later this month, justices will hear oral arguments telephonically, with live audio broadcast online as it always is. The court has continued to released its opinions to the public every Thursday. Today the Supreme Court released three opinions, and SDPB’s Victoria Wicks has more on those.
Opinions are legal analyses, and the language is objective. But contained within those pages are situations that can be heartbreaking, or thrilling, or even kind of funny. And all of them mean a lot to the people involved in the case. Take the opinions made public on April 9th. One concerns a dispute between ranchers over the selling of almost 800 head of cattle. That one seems personal.
Another is an appeal from a man who sucker-punched his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend in an Aberdeen bar and broke his jaw. He thinks the Fifth Circuit judge and jury got it wrong by calling it a felony. The state supreme court disagreed and upheld his conviction. In a footnote, you learn that the defendant, Korey Ware, was sheriff-elect of Roberts County at the time.
And then there’s an appeal of two auto insurers’ rejection of claims for physical injuries to a passenger. Keep reading, and you learn that the passenger was injured by a bullet.
In 2014, in North Sioux City, Gary and Mary Olson, with their 20-year-old daughter in the back seat, were flagged down by a woman who was being threatened by her husband, Eric Johnson.
The Olsons got the woman into their car, and Gary Olson got out and tried to defuse Johnson’s anger. When Johnson pulled a gun, Olson told Mary to drive off, and Johnson got into his vehicle and followed, shooting at the Olson’s vehicle. A bullet struck the daughter. Both auto insurers refused to pay medical expenses, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.
This situation is tragic. But facts are facts. Eric Johnson committed an intentional act, not covered by insurance, and the operation of vehicles wasn’t the cause of the injury.
Anyone wishing to take a look into the disputes and crimes and tragedies of South Dakotans, written and argued in legal terms, can find them online at the Unified Judicial System website.