# State v. Brown

> South Dakota Supreme Court · January 29, 1992 · 480 N.W.2d 761

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9688318

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. James Rankin BROWN, Defendant and Appellant
- **Court:** South Dakota Supreme Court
- **Decided:** January 29, 1992
- **Citations:** 480 N.W.2d 761; 1992 S.D. LEXIS 11; 1992 WL 13351
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Henderson
- **Judges:** Wuest, Miller, Henderson, Sabers, Amundson
- **Cited by:** 12 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9688318

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding the erroneous admission of evidence under the business records exception “does not warrant reversal absent a showing that substantial rights of the party were affected”

## Opinion text

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring in part, specially concurring in part).
I.
I concur on the academic discussion on Issue One.
II.
Although I concur that the trial court properly refused to dismiss Brown’s indictment for prosecutorial misconduct,. Ven-tling would not be the primary authority to uphold the trial court. In Ventling, the prosecutor’s ethics were not in question at all. Essentially, it is my position that Ven-tling is somewhat inapposite. Rather, I would focus on the thesis that this prosecutor, as any prosecutor in this state, has statutory authority to plea bargain cases with defense counsel and his client. SDCL 23A-7-8. We have recognized this in previous cases. State v. Grosh, 387 N.W.2d 503, 504 (S.D.1986); State v. Rich, 305 N.W.2d 390, 392 (S.D.1981).
Brown’s brief characterized the prosecutor’s offer as “a proposed plea bargain;” how, then, can Brown contend that such legitimate force in law, recognized by our State Legislature and this Court, is prose-cutorial misconduct? Brown’s position is ridiculous. Would he have every prosecutor in this state prosecuted for a felony for trying to implement a plea bargain? Under his theory, a prosecutor would be prosecuted for a felony, i.e. compounding, because the prosecutor in this case offered to permit Brown to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, providing Brown would reimburse creditors of CMC. This was an attempt to seek restitution for victims, a salutary, not reprehensible, legal effort.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9688318. Public record. Not legal advice.