Court Opinion

ID: 9741964
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:04:46.83533+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:27.546876
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Justice
(concurring specially)-
If the record evidence of defendant’s guilt were so overwhelming that we could say that the error complained of was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, I would vote to affirm the conviction. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705; Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284; State v. Watts, 85 S.D. 638, 188 N.W.2d 913. Because the evidence is not of that character, I join with the majority for reversal. I concur specially, however, for I fear that some of the language in the majority opinion will be construed as precluding the af-firmance of a conviction under the harmless error rule, a result that I believe to be neither warranted by the decisions of this court or the United States Supreme Court nor contemplated by the majority opinion.