Court Opinion

ID: 9668033
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:00:51.120383+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:42.570779
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(specially concurring).
I.
Federal harmless error discourse bursts forth like an intellectual meteor. Welcome — the blessing of Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). Note its approval in dissent of this author in State v. Chief Eagle, 377 N.W.2d 141, 144 (S.D.1985), and collected cases on prejudicial error thereat cited.
II.
In Chief Eagle, 377 N.W.2d at 146, I deplored his being tried on a collateral matter with extrinsic evidence. See J. Weinstein & M. Berger, 3 Weinstein ⅛ Evidence, ¶ 608[05] (1985). Here, this Court cites with approval State v. Padgett, 291 N.W.2d 796 (S.D.1980), for, essentially, evidence of specific acts may not be used circumstantially to prove a victim’s probable conduct on the occasion of the alleged crime. See also, State v. Tribitt, 327 N.W.2d 132, 134-35 (S.D.1982), cited in my dissent in Chief Eagle, 377 N.W.2d at 144:
Ample authority exists holding that FRE 608(b), the federal counterpart to SDCL 19-14-10, excludes extrinsic evidence of specific acts. United States v. Powers, 622 F.2d 317, 324 (8th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 837, 101 S.Ct. 112, 66 L.Ed.2d 44 (1980); United States v. Werbrouck, 589 F.2d 273, 277-78 (7th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 962, 99 S.Ct. 1507, 59 L.Ed.2d 776 (1978).