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Here's what the South Dakota Supreme Court is hearing this week

Danielle Ferguson
Argus Leader
Chief Justice David Gilbertson of the South Dakota Supreme Court gives the 2018 State of the Judiciary Address on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2017.

The South Dakota Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on several cases this week, ranging from compensation claims for damage caused by law enforcement to an appeal in the Gear Up scandal saga. 

The SD Supreme Court will hear oral arguments from 9 a.m. to noon on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the University of South Dakota School of Law. The hearings will be held in the courtroom at the law school.

The justices will hear arguments on the following cases:  

Monday: 

Gareth and Sharla Hamen vs. Hamlin County, South Dakota; Chad Schlotterbeck , Hamlin County Sheriff; and Sheriff's deputies, et al.

The Hamens say that they were entitled to compensation for more than $18,000 worth of damage done by law enforcement to their home during the June 2016 arrest of their son, Gary Hamen, on a felony warrant. 

Hamlin County, the appellant, argues that most courts have ruled that law enforcement-inflicted damage while doing their duties is not a compensated matter. Hamlin County also argues the sheriff has qualified immunity, which protects officials unless they violate a constitutional right.

State of South Dakota vs. Chance Harruff

Harruff was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder of his girlfriend in 2017 in Gregory County. He was sentenced to life in prison in January 2019. Harruff motioned to have that charge acquitted on the grounds of insufficient evidence, but the circuit court denied the motion. Harruff also says some testimony allowed in his trial was unfairly prejudicial. 

Harruff filed with the state's highest court to see if he has grounds for new trial. 

Revelers watch a concert and ride a zip line at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip campground August 3, 2015 in Sturgis, South Dakota. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, with crowds of up to 1.2 million people expected to visit.

State of South Dakota, acting through the Attorney General vs. Buffalo Chip, South Dakota

The Supreme Court will again hear Buffalo Chip's plea to become a municipality. 

Buffalo Chip, a popular Sturgis Motorcycle Rally campground, was incorporated in 2015, but a Fourth Circuit judge in February ruled it wasn't a city. 

State attorneys have argued that Buffalo Chip was wrongly formed because it had fewer than 100 legal residents or 30 voters at the time it was incorporated. 

Tuesday: 

Neil and Debra Graff as Parents and Guardians of Benjamin Graff, disabled vs. Children's Care Hospital and School, a South Dakota Corporation

Debra and Neil Graff sued Children's Care Hospital and School, now LifeScape, last year over employees' use of prone restraints on their son, Ben Graff, who has autism and was attending the school.

The circuit court ruled against allowing the Graffs to present South Dakota Department of Health surveys of Children's Care audits, saying the surveys only showed "deficiencies in record-keeping done by CCHS."

More:Home sweet home: Shared Living program creates new opportunity for Ben Graff and family

The Graffs are appealing the circuit court's decision to exclude the surveys. They are also appealing the circuit court's decision to hold Neil and Debra Graff personally responsible for paying CCHS over $7,000 for attorney fees and evidence gathering costs. 

Read the case documents here.

State of South Dakota vs. Carlos C. Quevedo

Carlos Quevedo pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Nov. 2, 2017 in the death of Kasie Lord in Rapid City earlier that year. Seventh Circuit Court Judge Heidi L. Linngren sentenced Quevedo to 90 years in prison. 

Quevedo is appealing the sentence, saying a 90-year prison sentence is basically a life sentence without the opportunity for parole, which he argues is unconstitutional because Quevedo was 17 at the time of the crime.

Read the case documents here.

Estate of Dora Lee Gaaskjolen, deceased

Dora Lee Gaaskjolen, who died in March 2016, left her estate to one daughter and excluded the other. The circuit court determined Gaaskjolen had expressive aphasia, but was able to testify. The daughter to whom she left the estate, Audrey Lorius, was also a nurse and was caring for Gaaskjolen full-time at Gaaskjolen's ranch. 

Gaaskjolen excluded her other daughter, Vicki Penfield, because she said she was unhappy Penfield and her husband wanted her to have a financial conservator. 

Lorius is appealing the circuit court's decision that a version of Gaaskjolen's will was influenced by Lorius. 

Read the case documents here

Wednesday: 

Fred Slota vs. Imhoff and Associates, P.C., Henry Evans, Shannon Dorvall and Manuel De Castro Jr. 

Fred Slota, the plaintiff, was convicted in 2014 in Brown County of first-degree rape of a child. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. 

Slota filed a writ of habeas corpus, often brought when inmates claim they are improperly imprisoned, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. Judge Jon S. Flemmer overturned his conviction, saying “but for trial counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the trial would have been different.” Slota was released from prison in 2017 after serving three years.

Later, Slota sued three of his four defense attorneys for fraud and deceit, all four of them for legal malpractice, and one for legal malpractice.

The circuit court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment based on the statute of limitations. Slota is appealing the circuit court’s ruling to dismissing the fraud and deceit claims. 

He claimed Imhoff’s business model “is to solicit business by advertising, obtain a substantial amount of money from the accused person, then hire lawyers who are admitted in the state where the defendant is charged, and pay the lawyers a fraction of the money that Imhoff has already collected," according to the appeal.

Read the case documents here.

State of South Dakota vs. Joshua John Armstrong

In August 2016, Armstrong was an inmate at the South Dakota State Penitentiary serving time for a felony sexual contact when he sent a letter that had "PREA" or Prison Rape Elimination Act, written on the outside of the envelope. 

In the letter, he expressed frustration that his counselors used something he said in treatment at his trial. Later in the letter, he said he had "nothing to lose and everything to gain by raping and killing" a mental health counselor or guard at the prison.

Armstrong is appealing the Minnehaha County trial court's decision to not grant a judgement of acquittal and its decision to not include certain jury instructions in his 2018 jury trial of threatening to commit a sexual offense. 

Read the case documents here.

Alyssa Black Bear and Kelsey Walking Eagle-Espinosa vs. Mid-Central Educational Cooperative, American Indian Institute for Innovation (AIII), Westerhuis estate, et al.

Dan Guericke, left, and his attorney Mike Butler, center, speak with Stacy Phelps, right, outside the Charles Mix County courtroom Thursday afternoon.

Black Bear and Walking Eagle-Espinosa were students at a school that received Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program, or GEAR UP, grant money from the Department of Education that was meant to "benefit a cohort of underprivileged students."

Previously:Gear Up trials are over but scandal's legacy to linger in South Dakota

The state began investigating the Gear Up grant after former Mid-Central Educational Cooperative Business Manager Scott Westerhuis killed his family and himself in a 2015 Platte murder-suicide and arson. 

Westerhuis and other Mid-Central and AIII executives were accused of backdating contracts to avoid an audit of the program. 

Stacy Phelps, former AIII CEO, and Stephanie Hubers, a former assistant business manager at Mid-Central Educational Cooperative, were found not guilty in separate Minnehaha County trials. Dan Guericke, the co-op's former executive director, accepted a plea deal and admitted to one count of falsification of evidence.

More:Gear Up trial: Investigators detail Stacy Phelps' interviews in day two of jury trial

The students filed a complaint claiming breach of contract and sought class-action payment as third-party beneficiaries to the educational co-op. 

The students sued AIII, Mid-Central, and the estates of Scott and Nicole Westerhuis for civil theft for misappropriating Gear Up grant funds. Guericke and Phelps are also named in the suit. 

The students are now appealing the circuit court's decision granting a summary judgement to the defendants. 

Read the court documents here.

Email reporter Danielle Ferguson at dbferguson@argusleader.com, or follow on Twitter at @DaniFergs.