Court Opinion

ID: 9519972
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:28:38.708838+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:25.202261
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring in result).
I concur in the disposition of this case. However, I take exception to the last sentence that states: “A sentence within statutory limits will not be disturbed.” The scope of our review is not merely perfunctory. In rare instances, where the sentence prescribed is so excessive or disproportionate to the crime committed as to “shock ‘the conscience and reason of men generally,’ ” this court is justified in interfering with the discretion and judgment of the trial judge, notwithstanding that the sentence imposed is within the statutory limits. State v. Bad Heart Bull, 257 N.W.2d 715 (S.D.1977). See also State v. Holmes, 270 N.W.2d 51 (S.D.1978); State v. Becker, 3 S.D. 29, 51 N.W. 1018 (1892). The duration of this particular sentence does not shock the conscience and reason of men generally and is not constitutionally offensive.