State v. Augustine

2000 SD 93, 614 N.W.2d 796, 2000 S.D. LEXIS 100
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 19, 2000
DocketNone
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 2000 SD 93 (State v. Augustine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Augustine, 2000 SD 93, 614 N.W.2d 796, 2000 S.D. LEXIS 100 (S.D. 2000).

Opinion

MILLER, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1.] Jason Augustine appeals his conviction on four separate counts of child abuse, claiming (1) that such conviction violated his constitutional right against double jeopardy and (2) that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the jury’s verdict. We affirm.

FACTS

[¶ 2.] On October 20, 1998, daycare workers noticed what appeared to be cigarette burn marks on 4-year-old female M.A.’s ankle, forehead, fingers and toe. They contacted the police and the Department of Social Services to investigate. M.A. was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital, where she told the examining pediatrician that there were cigarette burns on her body. After studying the injuries, the doctor confirmed them to be consistent with cigarette burns.

[¶ 3.] M.A.’s father, Jason Augustine, was twice interviewed by the police re *797 garding her injuries. At the first interview, he denied any responsibility for the injuries. However, during the second interview, which was videotaped, he admitted to using a cigarette to burn M.A. on several different occasions.

[¶ 4.] Regarding the burns to M.A.’s ankle, Augustine told police that he came home during the early morning hours of October 4, 1998, in an intoxicated state after celebrating his birthday. According to Augustine, while he was sitting on the couch, M.A. awoke, came downstairs and joined him. He told her to go to bed, but she would not, só he reached out to push her away by touching her on the ankle with his cigarette: He recalled seeing sparks fly from the end of the cigarette when it came into contact with her ankle. After being burned once with the cigarette, M.A. would still not go to bed, so Augustine said he burned her a second time on the ankle. After the second burn, he stated that M.A. ran upstairs and he passed out.

[¶ 5.] Augustine further told the police that he inflicted the forehead injury on another occasion at his sister’s house, although he cotdd not remember the exact date. He stated that he had been drinking, and when M.A. misbehaved, he touched her with his cigarette.

[¶6.] The burns to M.A.’s fingers, Augustine told police, were inflicted while he was babysitting M.A. and his other children at home and his wife was at work. According to Augustine, M.A. pushed her sibling, then threw a ball inside the house, which knocked over some CD’s. This angered him, so he burned her on the fingers with his cigarette.

[¶ 7.] Augustine also admitted inflicting the injury to M.A.’s toe. He said that particular injury happened at home when M.A. was misbehaving and kicking him. He said he lost his patience and burned her with his cigarette “in an instant.”

[¶ 8.] In the interview Augustine claimed that each time he burned M.A., he was unfler the influence of alcohol and was experiencing significant stress in his life stemming from arguments with his wife, misbehaving children, and lack of a job. Therefore, he explained that when he became frustrated with M.A.’s misbehavior, he reacted by burning her with a cigarette.

[¶ 9.] Augustine was subsequently charged with four counts of child abuse for the burns to each different body part: Count T related to burns on M.A.’s ankle, Count II pertained to a burn on her forehead, Count III originated from burns on her fingers, and Count IV related to a burp on her toe. A jury trial was held on May 12-13, 1999, during which he was: convicted on all four counts. He appeals, raising two issues:

1. Did the State’s use of the same evidence to support the convictions in all of the counts violate, his constitutional right against double jeopardy?
2. Was the evidence presented at trial sufficient to sustain the jury verdiets?

DECISION

[¶ 10.] 1. Augustine’s constitutional right against double jeopardy was not violated by his conviction on four separate counts of child abuse.

[¶ 11.] The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as applied to the states by'the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article VI, § 9 of the South Dakota Constitution, provide that no person shall be put into jeopardy twice for the same offense. The double jeopardy clause has been used to guard'against three types of governmental abuses: (1) a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; (2) a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and (3) multiple punishments for the same offense. State v. Beck, 1996 SD 30, ¶ 8, 545 N.W.2d 811, 813; State v. Grey Owl, 316 N.W.2d 801, 803 (S.D.1982).

[¶ 12.] Augustine was convicted on four separate counts of abuse or cruelty to a *798 minor in violation of SDCL 26-10-1, which provides: “Any person who abuses, exposes, tortures, torments, or cruelly punishes a minor in a manner which does not constitute aggravated assault, is guilty of a Class 4 felony.” He argues that because the sole distinction between each count was the part of the body injured, the actions “should have been considered a course of conduct which, when combined, resulted in one criminal offense instead of four separate criminal offenses.” We disagree.

[¶ 13.] We have adopted the “same offense” or “same evidence” test when examining claims of double jeopardy. State v. Darby, 1996 SD 127, ¶ 16, 556 N.W.2d 311, 317; State v. Shilvock-Havird, 472 N.W.2d 773, 778 (S.D.1991); State v. Hoffman, 430 N.W.2d 910, 911 (S.D.1988); State v. Seidschlaw, 304 N.W.2d 102, 106 (S.D.1981); State v. Pickering, 88 S.D. 548, 553-54, 225 N.W.2d 98, 100-01 (1975). The test is whether “‘[t]he same act or transaction may constitute two distinct offenses ... if each offense as defined by statute requires the proof of some fact or element not required to establish the other.’ ” Seidschlaw, 304 N.W.2d at 106 (quoting State v. Teutsch, 80 S.D. 462, 468, 126 N.W.2d 112,115 (1964)).

[¶ 14.] The “same evidence” test originated from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). There the petitioner was convicted on two violations of the same provision in the Harrison Narcotics Act for selling a drug to the same person on two occasions. In connection with one of those sales, he was also convicted under another provision of the act for selling the drug without a written order.

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Bluebook (online)
2000 SD 93, 614 N.W.2d 796, 2000 S.D. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-augustine-sd-2000.