Court Opinion

ID: 9685986
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 15:12:25.528837+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:12.304912
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Chief Justice
(concurring specially).
As Justice Henderson points out in his dissent, SDCL 24-15-4 precludes the Board of Pardons and Paroles from granting defendant a parole. This statutory bar does not foreclose the Board from playing a role in defendant’s ultimate term of imprisonment, however, for SDCL 24-14-11 and SDCL 24-14-52 permit the Governor to grant to the Board a significant voice in the exercise of executive clemency. The existence of this role for the Board gives substance to the trial court’s statement referred to in Justice Henderson’s dissent and militates against a conclusion that the trial court was laboring under a misapprehension of law or fact that would constitute an error of constitutional magnitude similar to those giving rise to the holdings in United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 92 S.Ct. 589, 30 L.Ed.2d 592 (1972); and Crowe v. State, 86 S.D. 264, 194 N.W.2d 234 (1972).

.. SDCL 24-14-1 provides: “The Governor may, by executive order, delegate to the board of pardons and paroles the authority to hear applications for pardon, commutation, reprieve, or remission of fines and forfeitures, and to make its recommendations to him.”

. SDCL 24-14-5 provides: “The Governor may submit an application for clemency to the board of pardons and paroles for its recommendation. The Governor may, by executive order, delegate to the board the authority to consider applications for clemency and make recommendations to him. The Governor is not bound to follow a recommendation returned by the board.”