Opinion ID: 1802577
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Whether defendant violated the condition of probation which required him to successfully complete an alcohol treatment program.

Text: Defendant admits he did not complete alcohol treatment at the H.S.C., but offers several excuses for this failure. Defendant claims that the adolescent drug and alcohol program was not properly suited to his needs because several of the other patients were younger (some were 14 and 16, while defendant was 20). He also claims that some of the other patients were dealing with drug problems and had different culture experiences than he. (However, he did testify that half of the patients in the program were also Indian.) Mainly, defendant asserts that he did successfully complete an alcohol program because he did not drink for the first seven months of his probation and because he had expressed a desire to continue attending AA meetings and church services when available. Defendant argues that his only violation was that he could not complete a personality reversal as required by the H.S.C. First, we note that the condition that defendant complete alcohol treatment was the most important condition in the mind of the trial court. At the original sentencing hearing, the trial judge repeatedly warned that alcohol was defendant's main problem and that treatment was absolutely necessary. Defendant's behavior at the treatment program at H.S.C. was clearly not as good as it should have been. He had a poor attitude, was assaultive, and demonstrated aggressive behavior. Defendant was thus discharged from the program. Further, the fact that several of the other participants were younger than he is immaterial. At age 20, he certainly is not an old timer (in the recent past he would not have been considered an adult, and even today a 20-year-old is legally prohibited from purchasing or consuming alcohol). One could hardly assume that the professional personnel at the H.S.C. acted improperly by placing him in treatment with other young people, rather than with middle-aged or elderly alcoholics. Given defendant's actions and applying them to the Burkman standards, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to justify the trial court's revocation of probation for failure to complete treatment. Finally, defendant's argument that the requirement that he complete treatment for alcoholism violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution (i.e., such requirement constitutes cruel and unusual punishment) is without merit. Treatment for alcoholism (or any illness) as a condition of probation is not unconstitutional as it is not punishment but rather is a means of necessary rehabilitation. See State v. Robinson, 399 N.W.2d 324 (S.D.1987).