State v. Brandenburg

344 N.W.2d 702, 1984 S.D. LEXIS 254
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 29, 1984
Docket14152
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 344 N.W.2d 702 (State v. Brandenburg) 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. Brandenburg, 344 N.W.2d 702, 1984 S.D. LEXIS 254 (S.D. 1984).

Opinions

POSHEIM, Chief Justice.

Larry Brandenburg appeals a perjury conviction. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

This appeal developed from the factual background found in State v. Wellner, 318 N.W.2d 324 (S.D.1982). In Wellner we upheld the criminal convictions of Steven and Stanley Wellner for cultivation of several tons of marijuana on Hand County farmland rented from Ellwood Brandenburg, appellant’s father. Appellant was then purchasing that land.

Appellant was called as a witness at the Wellners’ preliminary examination on October 2,1980. He testified in part as follows:

QUESTION: Did you know ... do you have any knowledge that any marijuana was grown on any of that land that you were purchasing from your father? ANSWER: No, I didn’t.
QUESTION: And you, yourself, did you ever see any marijuana growing there? ANSWER: No.

The perjury conviction rests on this testimony.

[704]*704Appellant unsuccessfully moved for change of venue. Media coverage of these proceedings was not unusually extensive. His assertion of county-wide bias was founded almost entirely on a survey of 201 area residents, 72 of whom signed form affidavits attesting to their belief that Brandenburg could not get a fair trial in Hand County.

We held in State v. Wellner, 318 N.W.2d 324, that a similar survey conducted for the Wellner defense did not require a change of venue. The Wellners exercised only one peremptory challenge during voir dire and thus failed to show that the community bias or prejudice could not adequately be exposed and remedied during voir dire. Brandenburg notes this Wellner dictum:

Had this case come to us in the posture of defendants’ exhausting their peremptory challenges with jurors still on the panel who had indicated a pretrial bias, followed by a refusal of the motion to change the place of trial, the result would undoubtedly be different.

Id. at 331. Appellant argues that his survey’s showing of county prejudice, his exhaustion of peremptory challenges during voir dire and his renewed motion for change of venue justified moving the place of trial under the Wellner hypothetical.

A change of venue shall be ordered upon motion if the court is satisfied that there exists, in the county where the prosecution is pending, so great a prejudice against the defendant that he cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial in that county. SDCL 23A-17-5. Generally, the law presumes that a defendant can receive a fair and impartial trial in the county in which the offense is committed. State v. Reiman, 284 N.W.2d 860 (S.D.1979); 21 Am.Jur.2d Criminal Law § 387 (1981). The test is whether there is, in fact, prejudice in the minds of the county residents sufficient to raise a reasonable apprehension that the accused will not receive a fair and impartial trial in that county. The burden of establishing that a fair and impartial trial cannot occur in such county is upon the applicant. Granting or refusing a change of venue involves the discretion of the trial court, and we will reverse that decision only upon a showing of discretion abuse. Wellner, 318 N.W.2d 324; Reiman, 284 N.W.2d 860; State v. Austin, 84 S.D. 405, 172 N.W.2d 284 (1969).

Brandenburg has not established an abuse of discretion. He did not introduce evidence of unfair publicity and his survey appears to have been unscientific and self-serving. The interviews did not occur in random fashion, but, as Brandenburg’s investigator conceded, the next subject to be contacted was often recommended by the person being interviewed as one likely to sign the desired statement. The State’s investigation of the 72 persons who did sign affidavits revealed that: (1) seven were not residents of the county; (2) forty-six were married to each other; (3) two were appellant’s sister and brother-in-law; (4) some admitted being social friends or business associates of the appellant; (5) some did not read the affidavit before signing it and others did not understand what the form affidavit said. If there was county-wide bias, it was not exposed in the voir dire examination or the showing presented. While it may have been preferable to move the place of trial to insure a higher degree of fairness, we cannot conclude from the record that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion for a change of venue.

Appellant also alleges error in the court’s refusal to admit two tape recordings into evidence. The first recording was made secretly by Brandenburg on October 30, 1980, when he was talking to the former Hand County State’s Attorney, who later became special prosecutor in the Brandenburg trial. Brandenburg claims the tape would have revealed to the jury that he informed the State’s Attorney not to expect him to say he knew that which he had not seen. In the tape he stated:

I’m going to go up there and say what I know, and if it is something I don’t definitely know, I’m not going to say I know it one way or the other ...

[705]*705It is important to note that this conversation occurred after the preliminary examination from which the perjury conviction springs. Brandenburg was then ostensibly attempting to explain to the State’s Attorney why he had denied knowledge of the marijuana cultivation at the preliminary examination and why his answer would be the same at a grand jury hearing the following day and also at the upcoming trial. The court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to admit this after-the-fact explanation.

Brandenburg also asked leave to play the first tape to the jury to impeach the testimony of the special prosecutor and State witness Jerry Lindberg. The special prosecutor had been called as a defense witness to confirm a statement he made to Brandenburg during the tape-recorded conversation. During that taped conversation he stated:

... if I get a conviction [the Wellners] are going to start squealing like stuffed pigs ... They’re gonna drag you in, Larry. They’re out there sweet talking you all the time now. But you wait. You mark my word. When it’s over and done, they ain’t going to take that two years in the pen alone. They’re going to try to drag other people in and lie to do it. I’m not saying they wouldn’t lie to get you in trouble ... What’s the obvious alternative? To make them think Larry Brandenburg did it. [Emphasis added]

The special prosecutor testified he did not recall saying the Wellners might lie to convict Larry Brandenburg. While this was not a denial, it was less than an admission and thus put in issue what exactly he said. Lindberg, who was present at the tape-recorded conversation, also testified he could not recall hearing him make that statement. Brandenburg and his wife were permitted to testify concerning the contents of the tape, but permission to play the tape to the jury was refused.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Matter of Discipline of Russell
2011 S.D. 17 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2011)
State v. Wilson
2008 SD 13 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2008)
State v. Smith
1999 SD 83 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1999)
State v. Garza
1997 SD 54 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1997)
State v. Sprik
520 N.W.2d 595 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1994)
State v. Koepsell
508 N.W.2d 591 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1993)
State v. Wall
481 N.W.2d 259 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1992)
Boykin v. Leapley
471 N.W.2d 165 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Martin
449 N.W.2d 29 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1989)
State v. Lohnes
432 N.W.2d 77 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1988)
State v. Iron Necklace
430 N.W.2d 66 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1988)
State v. Blaine
427 N.W.2d 113 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1988)
State v. Weatherford
416 N.W.2d 47 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1987)
State v. Michalek
407 N.W.2d 815 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1987)
State v. Hansen
407 N.W.2d 217 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1987)
State v. Clothier
391 N.W.2d 197 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Christians
381 N.W.2d 214 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Luna
378 N.W.2d 229 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1985)
State v. Wiegers
373 N.W.2d 1 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1985)
State v. Holland
346 N.W.2d 302 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
344 N.W.2d 702, 1984 S.D. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brandenburg-sd-1984.