Court Opinion

ID: 9738472
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:53:59.357369+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:06.345638
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
The trial court erred in refusing to instruct that Ellis was an accomplice to the charge against Busack of distribution of methamphetamine. The evidence shows Busack and Ellis cooperated in distributing. At the very least, whether Ellis was an accomplice was a jury question and the trial court should have so instructed. State v. Lingwall, 398 N.W.2d 745, 747 (S.D.1986) (citations omitted).
SDCL 23A-22-8 provides:
A conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice unless it is corroborated by other evidence which tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense. The corroboration is not sufficient if it merely shows the commission of the offense, or the circumstances thereof.
A fair reading of this statute makes it clear that the majority opinion fails to give effect to the letter or the spirit of the statute. Its interpretation of “accomplice” is so technical that no one would ever be an accomplice, because no two crimes are ever “identical” in the sense used by the majority opinion. As indicated above, Busack and Ellis were accomplices to each other. I urge the members of this court to reject such strict and technical interpretation because it destroys the obvious purpose of the statute. Jenner v. Leapley, 521 N.W.2d 422, 432 (S.D.1994) (Sabers, J. concurring in result); State v. Bradley, 431 N.W.2d 317, 325-26 (S.D.1988) (Sabers, J. concurring in part and dissenting in part); Woods v. Solem, 405 N.W.2d 59, 65 (S.D.1987) (Sabers, J. dissenting); State v. Rufener, 401 N.W.2d 740, 746-47 (S.D.1987) (Sabers, J. concurring in part and dissenting in part); State v. Rufener, 392 N.W.2d 424, 431-32 (S.D.1986) (Sabers, J. dissenting); State v. Byrum, 399 N.W.2d 334, 338-39 (S.D.1987) (Sabers and Henderson, JJ., dissenting).
It is not necessary to discuss Issue II because the defendant was acquitted on possession of cocaine. Accordingly, I concur in *419Issue III only as it relates to the conviction for possession, not distribution, of methamphetamine and I dissent on Issue I.