Court Opinion

ID: 9731041
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:31:27.167896+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:12.479215
License: Public Domain

MILLER, Chief Justice
(concurring specially).
This is a classic case of unfair prosecuto-rial over-charging. Under the. facts presented, I conclude that the only possible offense Oster could have committed was second-degree petty theft (SDCL 22-30A-l & -17) which at the time carried a maximum penalty of thirty days in the county jail and a $100 fine. SDCL 22-6-2.
*313In reality, Oster was convicted of stealing $34 from the wallet of a good Samaritan. He received a five-year penitentiary sentence (the majority fails to note that three years of this was suspended).
Through his independent inquiry of penitentiary or parole board records, the majority author has learned that Oster served approximately five months of this sentence. That far exceeds the appropriate maximum thirty-day jail sentence which the correct charge would have carried.