State v. Feyereisen

343 N.W.2d 384, 1984 S.D. LEXIS 237
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 1984
Docket14109
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 343 N.W.2d 384 (State v. Feyereisen) 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. Feyereisen, 343 N.W.2d 384, 1984 S.D. LEXIS 237 (S.D. 1984).

Opinions

HENDERSON, Justice.

ACTION

Appellant Gregory Scott Feyereisen appeals from a five-year sentence to the State Penitentiary imposed subsequent to his jury conviction of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer in violation of SDCL 22-18-1.1(3). We affirm.

FACTS

On the afternoon of October 2, 1982, appellant Gregory Scott Feyereisen was consuming alcohol with several friends at the Pheasant Bar in Winner, South Dakota. At approximately 3:00 in the afternoon, this group decided to venture to the local park to play football or frisbee. As the group began to leave the Pheasant Bar, a few nearby Winner citizens noticed some members of the group took their drinks with them and might be violating a city ordinance against open containers in public areas. Paul Schueth, the Winner Chief of Police, was in the area returning from a vandalism investigation when he noticed these citizens pointing towards the open containers.

Schueth, who was not wearing his law enforcement officer’s uniform, stopped his police cruiser in the vicinity of one of the group’s vehicles. The cruiser had a Winner City Police insignia on the doors, whip antennas, and red lights on the top. Schueth automated the emergency flashing lights but not the overhead lights. Schueth approached the vehicle and asked the boarding occupants for the drinks. As the young men complied, Schueth noticed the owner of the vehicle placing something under the vehicle’s seat. Before Schueth began a search under the seat, he also observed a leafy-like substance which appeared to be marijuana floating in the liquid of one of the glasses. Later, it was stipulated at trial that the substance was marijuana. There was no dispute that the glasses contained alcohol — mixed drinks. Appellant Feyereisen came upon the scene noticing the nearby police cruiser and an [386]*386individual reaching under his friend’s truck seat.

What occurred at this point is disputed, except to say that unquestionably Schueth and appellant Feyereisen became embroiled in a fistfight and appellant Feyereisen prevailed. The State put on evidence that appellant Feyereisen started the brawl; appellant Feyereisen put on evidence that Schueth was the aggressor. In this regard, Schueth testified that he was jerked out of the vehicle he was searching and appellant and appellant’s brother stood immediately in front of him. Appellant Fey-ereisen asserted he was unaware the individual was a law enforcement officer until the fisticuffs were underway. However, evidence established that appellant was a life-long resident of Winner and knew Schueth was the Chief of Police. Evidence disclosed that Schueth was knocked to the ground and kicked when he tried to get up. Besides abrasions and contusions, he suffered two cracked ribs. Appellant admitted under oath he knew he was kicking a police officer. A Tripp County jury, as the finder of fact, convicted appellant Feyereisen of assaulting a law enforcement officer.

ISSUES
I.
DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN REJECTING APPELLANT’S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION REQUIRING AN ELEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE THAT THE VICTIM WAS A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER?
II.
DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR BY INSTRUCTING THE JURY THAT THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WAS ACTING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF HIS AUTHORITY WHEN THE ALTERCATION TRANSPIRED?
DECISION
I.
SDCL 22-18-1.1(3) provides:
Any person who:
(3) Attempts to cause or knowingly causes any bodily injury to a law .enforcement officer or other public officer engaged in the performance of his duties ...
is guilty of aggravated assault. Aggravated assault is a Class 4 felony.

Appellant Feyereisen advocates that SDCL 22-18-1.1(3) requires the accused assailant have knowledge at the time of the attack that his victim is a law enforcement officer engaged in lawful duty. We disagree. In the recent case of State v. Cook, 319 N.W.2d 809, 811 (S.D.1982), we held:

Aggravated assault under SDCL 22-18-1.1(3) requires the showing of: 1) an attempt to cause or the knowing causation of any bodily injury, 2) to a law enforcement officer, 3) while the officer is engaged in the performance of his duties. See State v. Corle, 294 N.W.2d 799 (S.D.1980). It is not disputed that Officer Whiting was a law enforcement officer in Yankton.

Contra, State v. Copher, 581 S.W.2d 59 (Mo.Ct.App.1979). In light of the state statute and our prior holding, we are unwilling to read an additional knowledge requirement into SDCL 22-18-1.1(3). The legislature did not intend to include knowledge of the victim’s identity as an element of the offense. And this Court cannot and should not amend a statute to avoid or produce a particular result. See State v. Esmay, 72 S.D. 270, 33 N.W.2d 280 (1948).

II.

Jury instruction number 12 provided:

You are instructed that Chief of Police Paul Schueth was acting within the scope of his authority as a law enforcement officer when he commenced the search of the Craig Audiss vehicle being then and there possessed of information that offenses were being committed in his presence and within the vehicle within his open view.

[387]*387Appellant Feyereisen objected below to instruction 12 and now advocates that the instruction erroneously directed the jury to find that the State had proven an element of the alleged crime. As we noted above, one of the elements the State must prove for a conviction under SDCL 22-18-1.1(3) is that the officer was “engaged in the performance of his duties.”

Schueth testified that the policy of the City of Winner was flexible as to when he was on duty, although he was on call twenty-four hours a day. In State v. Winckler, 286 N.W.2d 313, 314 (S.D.1979), we held that SDCL 22-18-1.1

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State v. Feyereisen
343 N.W.2d 384 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
343 N.W.2d 384, 1984 S.D. LEXIS 237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-feyereisen-sd-1984.