State v. Plenty Horse

184 N.W.2d 654, 85 S.D. 401, 1971 S.D. LEXIS 87
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 3, 1971
DocketFile 10765
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 184 N.W.2d 654 (State v. Plenty Horse) 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. Plenty Horse, 184 N.W.2d 654, 85 S.D. 401, 1971 S.D. LEXIS 87 (S.D. 1971).

Opinions

HANSON, Judge.

[404]*404Adolph Plenty Horse, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of American Indians, was charged with the crime of forgery in the third degree. He was tried and found guilty by a jury in the Circuit Court of Mellette County. On appeal, he contends the jury panel should have been quashed because of the systematic exclusion of members of his race from the jury list.

Plenty Horse timely moved to quash the jury panel before commencement of his trial. Although Indians constitute a substantial per cent of the total population of Mellette County, it appears from evidence introduced at the hearing that only token numbers of their race have ever appeared on its jury lists.

The procedure for selecting and drawing jury lists and panels in this state is set forth in Chapter 16-13 SDCL. In summary, a jury list is required for each county from which all grand and petit jurors are drawn. The number of names to be placed on the jury list is designated annually by order of the circuit court. Each organized city, town, township, and the combined unorganized townships constitutes a jury district within a county. Each jury district is entitled to pro rata representation on the master county jury list as computed by the clerk of courts according to the total vote cast for governor at the last general election. The boards of jury select-tors are the governing board of each city or town, the board of supervisors of each organized township and the board of county commissioners for the combined unorganized district. Each year the clerk of courts is required to requisition the jury selectors of each district to select and return a list of the names and addresses of persons deemed eligible and suitable for jury service. The number requisitioned from each district is twice the number apportioned. After the district jury lists are returned a board consisting of the county auditor, treasurer, and sheriff draws from each jury district list the number of names apportioned to each district. The names so drawn constitute the county jury list from which all jury panels are drawn as needed and ordered.

A defendant’s constitutional right to the equal protection of the law is violated by the deliberate or purposeful [405]*405exclusion of, or discrimination against, members of his race in the jury selection process. 1 A.L.R.2d 1291 Anno. Jury Service — -Discrimination. The protection of the Fourteenth Amendment is not limited to whites and negroes. It applies to any identifiable group or race which may be the subject of community prejudice. Hernandez v. Texas, 74 S.Ct. 667, 347 U.S. 475, 98 L.Ed. 866, and it is immaterial whether the discrimination is caused or created by the legislature, the courts, or by administrative officials involved in the jury selecting process, Carter v. Texas, 177 U.S. 442, 20 S.Ct. 687, 44 L.Ed. 839.

The right to be free from discrimination does not entitle a defendant in a criminal case “to demand a proportionate number of his race on the jury which tries him nor on the venire or jury roll from which petit jurors are drawn, (citation of authorities) Neither the jury roll nor the venire need be perfect mirror of the community or accurately reflect the proportionate strength of every identifiable group.” Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759. All a defendant can demand is to be indicted by a grand jury or tried by a petit jury from which members of his race have not been intentionally excluded because of race or color. Virginia v. Rives, 100 U.S. 313, 25 L.Ed.667.

The burden of proving purposeful jury discrimination is upon the defendant alleging it. However, a prima facie case of unconstitutional exclusion may be made by showing a wide disparity between the total number of a racial group and the group’s relatively small percentage representation on the county jury lists. When a prima facie case is made out, the burden shifts to the state to explain the disparity, Norris v. Alabama, 294 U.S. 587, 55 S.Ct. 579, 79 L.Ed. 1074; Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545, 87 S.Ct. 643, 17 L.Ed.2d 599; Coleman v. Alabama, 389 U.S. 22, 88 S.Ct. 2, 19 L.Ed.2d 22; Jones v. Georgia, 389 U.S. 24, 88 S.Ct. 4, 19 L.Ed.2d 25, and Sims v. Georgia, 389 U.S. 404, 88 S.Ct. 523, 19 L.Ed.2d 634.

In the present action it appears that Indians constitute 29.9 per cent of the total population of Mellette County. However, only about 8 per cent were represented on the [406]*406county jury lists in 1967, 1968 and 1969. There were no Indian names certified from 18 of the 23 jury districts in 1967, none from 19 of the districts in 1968, and none from 20 of the districts in 1969. Although the population of Cedar Butte Township is 60 per cent Indian there has never been a person of Indian descent certified on its jury lists during the past 10 years. Similarly, with an Indian population in excess of 60 per cent Norris Township has only returned one Indian name for jury duty during the past ten years.

Such evidence is sufficient to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination in the composition of the county jury list from which defendant’s petit jury was drawn. Practically the same percentage of racial jury representation to total population was found to be constitutionally offensive by the United States Supreme Court in Whitus v. Georgia, supra, and Sims v. Georgia, supra.

The prima facie case of racial discrimination was not satisfactorily rebutted by mere denial of systematic exclusion of Indians from the jury lists because of race or color. In considering the evidentiary worth of similar self-serving declarations by jury selectors the United States Supreme Court said the long continued exclusion of negroes from jury service “could not be met by mere generalities. If, in the presence of such testimony as defendant adduced, the mere general assertions by officials of their performance of duty were to be accepted as an adequate justification for the complete exclusion of negroes from jury service, the constitutional provision * * * would be but a vain and illusory requirement”, Norris v. Alabama, 294 U.S. 587, 55 S.Ct. 579, 79 L.Ed. 1074.

The general attitude of the jury selectors in Mellette County is reflected in the following testimony of one of the township supervisors:

“Q. There has never been an Indian picked from Cedar Butte to serve since 1961?
A. No.
Q. Are there any Indians living in the Cedar Butte township?
[407]*407A. Well, there is a few Indians.
Q. Is it not true a substantial number live there?
A. I wouldn’t say so.
Q. In fact, over half the township is Indians?
A.

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State v. Plenty Horse
184 N.W.2d 654 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
184 N.W.2d 654, 85 S.D. 401, 1971 S.D. LEXIS 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-plenty-horse-sd-1971.