State of South Dakota v. Randy W. Powers

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Dakota affirmed Randy W. Powers's enhanced sentence for a fifth DUI offense. The court held that, under SDCL 32-23-4.1, periods of incarceration for any prior DUI violation are excluded when calculating the ten-year period for sentence enhancement, even when the incarceration does not relate to the oldest prior conviction.

Holdings

1. The ten-year period for determining whether a prior DUI conviction may be used for sentence enhancement excludes any period during which the defendant was incarcerated for any prior violation of SDCL 32-23-1; the incarceration need not relate to the oldest prior conviction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether SDCL 32-23-4.1 requires exclusion from the ten-year sentence-enhancement calculation of any period of incarceration for a prior DUI violation, even when the incarceration was not attributable to the oldest prior conviction being evaluated.

Disposition

affirmed