Court Opinion

ID: 9715489
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:06:57.575712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:35.292143
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring).
Agreeing with the opinion that the formal procedural requirements of law were followed in the prosecution, I wish to express that I further agree that Dale’s exercise of requesting and receiving a jury trial should not be met by a sanction different than what others might receive who did not exercise their right to a jury trial. In State v. Braun, 351 N.W.2d 149, 153 (S.D.1984), dissenting, I wrote:
The exercise of a constitutional right cannot be encumbered with the threat or actuality of a more severe sentence upon conviction. People v. LaFiura, 49 Ill. Dec. 404, 93 Ill.App.3d 1099, 418 N.E.2d 48 (1981). Whether a defendant exercises his constitutional right to trial by jury to determine his guilt or innocence must have no bearing on the sentence imposed. Hess v. United States, 496 F.2d 936 (8th Cir.1974); United States v. Marzette, 485 F.2d 207 (8th Cir.1973); United States v. Stockwell, 472 F.2d 1186 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 948, 93 S.Ct. 1924, 36 L.Ed.2d 409 (1973); United States v. Hopkins, 150 U.S.App.D.C. 307, 464 F.2d 816, 822 (1972); Scott v. United States, 136 U.S.App.D.C. 377, 419 F.2d 264, 269-74 (1969); Baker v. United States, 412 F.2d 1069, 1073 (5th Cir.1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1018, 90 S.Ct. 583, 24 L.Ed.2d 509 (1970); United States v. Wiley, 278 F.2d 500, 504 (7th Cir.1960). See also, State v. Mollberg, 310 Minn. 376, 246 N.W.2d 463 (1976); Drinkwater v. State, 73 Wis.2d 674, 245 N.W.2d 664 (1976).