State v. Tiedeman

262 N.W.2d 763, 1978 S.D. LEXIS 152
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 22, 1978
DocketNo. 11915
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 262 N.W.2d 763 (State v. Tiedeman) 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. Tiedeman, 262 N.W.2d 763, 1978 S.D. LEXIS 152 (S.D. 1978).

Opinions

PORTER, Justice.

CASE SUMMARY

The defendant, Tiedeman, in this case appeals from his conviction of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery, because the trial court denied his motion for a directed verdict and refused his proposed jury instruction defining “offer” as used in SDCL 22-18-1. We affirm the conviction.

FACTS

At approximately 11:30 p. m. on October 4, 1975, Mrs. Judy Watts was alone at her father-in-law’s home in Vermillion, South Dakota. She heard the back door open and the defendant, Tiedeman, walked into the room. Mrs. Watts did not know him, but he told her that a friend had said he could stay there. She asked him if he was her brother-in-law’s friend and he said he was. They conversed until he lay down in front of her chair and grabbed her ankle and wrist. She pulled away, ran into the kitchen, and asked him to leave. He refused and finally lay down on the kitchen floor in front of the refrigerator just as Judy’s husband, John Watts, and his brother, Mike, arrived at the front door. Judy told John about defendant’s presence, and his strange behavior. John entered the kitchen, kicked defendant, who was still lying on the floor, and told him to leave. John and defendant scuffled and Mike hit defendant twice with a rifle butt as John’s other brother, Bob, came in the back door. Defendant ran out the front door and began slashing automobile tires with a knife. John called the police and went outside; Mike and Bob followed him, each armed with shotguns. They told defendant to stay away from the vehicles. Defendant said that he did not like the way they were treating him and began approaching John with an open knife in his hand. As defendant approached, John retreated. Judy yelled that defendant had a knife; John told her he had already seen it, but his brother had a shotgun. When defendant was informed that John’s brother had a shotgun he headed back toward the street. He started walking up the road just as officers from the Vermillion Police Department arrived and took him into custody. John spent the night in the hospital for the sore jaw and dislocated shoulder he received in the scuffle with defendant.

Defendant was charged with burglary, assault and battery, and assault with a dangerous weapon. At the trial he testified that he had been drinking alcoholic beverages all afternoon and evening and that he remembered none of the events concerning which the others testified. The jury found defendant not guilty of the burglary charge, and guilty of assault and battery and assault with a dangerous weapon.

ISSUES

The issues presented to us on appeal are as follows:

Issue One — Did the trial court err by denying defendant’s motion for a directed verdict on the charge of assault, with a dangerous weapon?

Issue Two — Did the trial court err in refusing defendant’s proposed jury instruction defining an “offer” as used in SDCL 22-18-1?

[765]*765DECISION

ISSUE ONE

We conclude that the trial court correctly denied defendant’s motion for a directed verdict on the charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

It is a settled rule that this court on appeal will not disturb a jury’s finding unless it can say that the evidence as a matter of law is insufficient to justify the verdict. State v. Olson, 83 S.D. 493, 161 N.W.2d 858 (1968); and State v. McFall, 75 S.D. 630, 71 N.W.2d 299 (1955). On an appeal challenging the denial of a motion for directed verdict we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and accept all reasonable inferences tending to support the verdict. State v. Best, S.D., 232 N.W.2d 447 (1975).

The elements of assault with a dangerous weapon which the State was required to prove were:

1. That defendant committed an assault upon John Watts;
2. That the assault was committed with the specific intent to do bodily harm and without justifiable or excusable cause; and
3. That the instrument used by defendant in committing the assault was a sharp or dangerous weapon. SDCL 22-18-11, as it existed at the time of this action.

At the trial several witnesses testified that defendant approached John Watts with an open knife. Although defendant and his friend testified that they had been drinking all afternoon and evening the other witnesses all testified that they smelled no alcohol on defendant’s breath. Defendant argues that because of this conflicting testimony the State failed to prove specific intent to do bodily harm, and therefore the motion for a directed verdict should have been granted. We disagree with his contention. “When the state has introduced evidence upon which, if believed by a jury, they may reasonably find the defendant guilty of the crime charged, the state has made out a prima facie case, and the jury, not the judge, ought to pass upon it.” State v. Nelson, 80 S.D. 574, 575-76, 129 N.W.2d 54, 55 (1964). If the jury believed the facts as presented by the State in this case, it could reasonably have found that when defendant approached John Watts with the knife, he had the specific intent to do bodily harm. See United States v. Mesteth, 528 F.2d 333 (8th Cir. 1976). We conclude, therefore, that it was correct for the trial court to submit the case to the jury. The motion for a directed verdict was properly denied.

ISSUE TWO

We conclude that the trial court correctly refused defendant’s proposed jury instruction defining an “offer” as used in SDCL 22-18-1.

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

Related

State v. Westphal
273 N.W.2d 155 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
262 N.W.2d 763, 1978 S.D. LEXIS 152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tiedeman-sd-1978.