Cases | State v. Sprecher, 606 N.W.2d 138 (S.D. 2000) | 2018
The defendant was found guilty of maintaining a public nuisance and was ordered to pay restitution to the county. The court granted the defendant’s motion for reconsideration and entered an order denying restitution, holding that the county was not a victim as defined by S.D. Codified Laws § 22-1-2(53). The State appealed. The supreme court found that the county was not a victim, under the factual scenario presented in the case. There was no evidence in the record that the defendant’s maintaining the public nuisance caused the county’s pecuniary loss. Any pecuniary loss suffered by the county resulted from its affirmative action in initiating the clean-up and abating the nuisance. The court did not answer the question of whether a county can be a victim under the statutes and under a different set of circumstances.