Court Opinion

ID: 9685514
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:45:02.301617+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:22.268868
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring).
In addition to the immediate appeal to this Court after the trial some twenty years ago, Stumes has now had eight bites of the appellate apple alleging various errors pertaining to his conviction. All of these appellate efforts have been for naught. In actuality, this is his tenth attempt to exonerate himself from a conviction of First Degree Manslaughter.
Stumes admitted that he strangled Ms. Hoff to death. Clinical evidence supports that she had congestion and hemorrhaging in the heart and lungs; her neck reflected a blue discoloration. The facts reveal that Stumes knocked Hoff down to the floor with his right fist. He then choked the life out of her. Believing she was dead, he covered her body with blankets. Before doing so, he sadistically inserted a plastic cap into her vagina. He then set upon a scheme to take a lock from the door of her apartment and took $6.00 out of Hoffs purse to make it appear *374that a burglary had ensued. In short, he tried to cover up the crime. Notwithstanding, he claimed the killing was an accident. When his crime was uncovered by investigation, with officers in a car with him, he cried and muttered “taking a human life is so useless.”
Arguing the sufficiency of evidence at this juncture, is an expenditure of time and money in total futility. State v. Wall, 481 N.W.2d 259, 262 (S.D.1992). It is also res judicata. Cowell v. Leapley, 458 N.W.2d 514, 520 (S.D. 1990).
Petitioner’s constitutional rights were not violated by denying his request for a parole eligibility date. Approximately seventeen years elapsed before Stumes requested a parole date. This was per a letter to the Parole Board- dated September 5,1991. Said letter was far subsequent to the enactments passed by the State Legislature upon which Stumes now complains. Essentially, by collateral review, Stumes seeks a review of a denial of a parole eligibility date. He failed to follow review remedies under SDCL ch. 1-26. Jurisdiction is lacking. Border States v. Department of Revenue, 437 N.W.2d 872 (S.D.1989). He should be precluded from raising this issue now. Clark v. Solem, 336 N.W.2d 381 (S.D.1983).
There exists no sea of confusion — no stone unturned. Any unlettered man of the Law would view this case as one where justice has been served. Stumes got his just desserts. This case has attained a zenith in scrutinized judgments. And it should now have repose.