In the Matter of M.D.D., A Delinquent Child

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Dakota held that juvenile restitution statutes authorized ordering a delinquent child to reimburse Medicaid for medical expenses resulting from the child's misconduct. The court concluded that the juvenile restitution statute's broad language was not limited to direct victims or criminal-case restitution provisions. The court also held that the child's hardship argument was not preserved because it was not properly raised at the restitution hearing.

Holdings

1. South Dakota's criminal restitution statutes do not govern restitution in juvenile delinquency proceedings because their terms—criminal activities, crimes, pleas of guilty, verdicts of guilty, defendants, and judgments of conviction—do not apply to juvenile proceedings.
2. SDCL 26-8B-6(4), as incorporated into juvenile delinquency dispositions by SDCL 26-8C-7(1), authorizes restitution to a third-party payer such as Medicaid when the payer was legally required to pay medical expenses caused by the juvenile's misconduct.
3. M.D.D. waived her hardship and injustice arguments because she did not raise actual hardship or request consideration of that issue at the restitution hearing, thereby failing to give the circuit court an opportunity to address the claimed error.

Questions Presented

1. Whether South Dakota's criminal restitution statutes authorize restitution to Medicaid in a juvenile delinquency proceeding.
2. Whether the juvenile restitution statutes authorize an order requiring a delinquent child to reimburse Medicaid, a third-party payer legally obligated to pay the victim's medical expenses.
3. Whether the circuit court was required to make findings regarding serious hardship or injustice when M.D.D. did not raise actual hardship at the restitution hearing.

Disposition

affirmed