State v. Bryant

• Decision Date: 19 August 2020
• Docket Number: #28979
• Citation: 948 N.W.2d 333
• Parties: STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Mason J. BRYANT, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

948 N.W.2d 333

STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee,

v.Mason J. BRYANT, Defendant and Appellant.

#28979

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

CONSIDERED ON BRIEFS FEBRUARY 11, 2020

OPINION FILED August 19, 2020

JASON R. RAVNSBORG, Attorney General, BRIGID C. HOFFMAN, Assistant Attorney General, Pierre, South Dakota, Attorneys for plaintiff and appellee.

CHRISTOPHER MILES of Minnehaha County Public Defender's Office, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Attorneys for defendant and appellant.

KERN, Justice

[¶1.] Mason Bryant was found guilty by a jury of two counts of aggravated assault and three counts of simple assault. As part of Bryant's sentence, the circuit court ordered him to pay restitution to Medicaid for its coverage of the victim's medical expenses. Bryant appeals, alleging several evidentiary errors, including an argument that the circuit court erred by considering Medicaid as a victim entitled to receive restitution. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[¶2.] On the morning of June 9, 2017, Mason Bryant was trying to find Emily Smedsrud, with whom he had a three-year-old daughter, R.B., in order to drop R.B. off with her mother while he attended a job interview. Bryant called Smedsrud several times and received no answer. Hoping to locate Smedsrud, Bryant called her mother's fiancé, Kenneth Rogers. Rogers lived in an apartment with Smedsrud's mother, Chloye Smedsrud-Stelzer. Rogers answered the phone and Bryant inquired if Smedsrud was at their apartment. Rogers told Bryant that Smedsrud was not there. However, Smedsrud arrived at the apartment a brief time later with a friend, Tommy Lund.

[¶3.] In the early afternoon, Bryant arrived at Smedsrud-Stelzer's and Rogers's second-floor apartment with R.B. Smedsrud answered the door and talked to Bryant in the doorway. Bryant began yelling at Smedsrud because he could not find her earlier in the day and she did not answer his phone calls. Bryant walked into the apartment, saw Lund sitting at the kitchen table, and began berating Lund about an unpaid bill he owed to a mutual friend. Rogers, who was sitting in a nearby recliner, told Bryant to stop yelling. Bryant responded by tipping over the recliner, which caused Rogers to roll onto the ground. Rogers got up and told Bryant to get out.

[¶4.] Bryant then walked out of the apartment and down the stairs, yelling as he went. Rogers followed him, yelling that Bryant was not welcome back to the apartment. Bryant stopped walking just outside the apartment building and turned around to face Rogers. The two men stood toe-to-toe, hollering at each other. At the time of the fight, Bryant was the larger of the two men, standing five feet, nine inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, while Rogers was five feet, six inches tall and weighed 170 pounds.

[¶5.] Bryant shoved Rogers to the ground. When Rogers returned to his feet, Bryant looked as though he was going to shove him down again, so Rogers head-butted Bryant, causing Bryant's glasses to fall to the ground. As Bryant reached down for his glasses, he pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed Rogers twice in the abdomen. Bryant swung the knife a few more times, scratching Rogers, who was unaware he had been stabbed until he felt something wet running down his shirt. Bryant fled the area in his car.

[¶6.] Smedsrud was watching the confrontation from the apartment window on the second floor. Thinking a fistfight was occurring, she ran down the stairs to break it up. As she did so, she saw Bryant pull a knife back from Rogers and put it in his pocket. Realizing that Rogers was bleeding and seriously injured, she called 911 for an ambulance. Rogers returned to the apartment, taking a seat at the kitchen table to wait for the ambulance. Officer Andrew Parrott, the first to arrive, assessed the situation and then began interviewing witnesses until Detective Patrick Mertes, the lead investigator, took charge of the scene.

[¶7.] After Bryant drove away from the apartment building, he called his mother and a friend. His mother encouraged him to turn himself in, so he called the non-emergency law enforcement line to report the incident. Bryant explained that he had stabbed Rogers in self-defense and wished to surrender to the police. He remained on the phone as he drove to the Law Enforcement Center in Sioux Falls, where he was detained upon arrival. Detective Erin McGillivray questioned him about the fight. Although no physical injuries were visible, Detective McGillivray directed an officer to photograph Bryant's alleged injuries. After speaking with Bryant, Detective McGillivray conferred with Detective Mertes, who then arrested Bryant for aggravated assault.

[¶8.] In the meantime, an ambulance took Rogers to Avera McKennan Hospital, where he was treated for two major stab wounds

to his abdomen. Rogers underwent surgery for the wounds and spent two days in the hospital. Approximately two months later, Rogers developed a hernia and an infection in the upper part of his abdomen, which required a second surgery and further care for complications from the original injury.

[¶9.] Bryant was indicted on three counts of aggravated assault: SDCL 22-18-1.1(1) (extreme indifference), SDCL 22-18-1.1(2) (dangerous weapon), and SDCL 22-18-1.1(4) (serious bodily injury); and three counts of simple assault: SDCL 22-18-1(1) (attempted bodily injury), SDCL 22-18-1(2) (recklessly caused bodily injury), and SDCL 22-18-1(5) (intentionally caused bodily injury).

[¶10.] A three-day jury trial began on December 17, 2018. The State called thirteen witnesses to testify, including several who had witnessed portions of the altercation. The State also introduced into evidence Bryant's statements to the police regarding the incident. During his testimony, Rogers described his yelling match and physical contact with Bryant and testified that Bryant stabbed him in the stomach several times. He explained that because of the stabbing, he had to endure two surgeries resulting in significant medical expenses. Smedsrud testified about her contacts with Bryant on the day of the incident, including her recollection of Rogers and Bryant yelling at each other and her observation of Bryant pulling the knife back from Rogers.

[¶11.] Lund testified that he saw Bryant push Rogers and swing his arm toward Rogers's stomach at least two times before quickly leaving. An uninvolved party, Tylor DeJong, testified that as he was driving by, he saw two men standing toe-to-toe, and then he noticed that the men were on the ground. DeJong turned his car around and drove by a second time. He heard Rogers state he had been stabbed and saw Bryant quickly leaving.

[¶12.] When the State rested, Bryant made a motion for judgment of acquittal, which the circuit court denied. At the end of the trial, Bryant moved for a mistrial based on statements made by the State during closing argument. The court denied the motion. The jury acquitted Bryant of aggravated assault under SDCL 22-18-1.1(1), but convicted him of aggravated assault under subdivisions (2) and (4). The jury also convicted Bryant of simple assault under SDCL 22-18-1(1), SDCL 22-18-1(2), and SDCL 22-18-1(5).

[¶13.] The circuit court held a two-day sentencing hearing, after which it imposed sentence on only one count of aggravated assault, SDCL 22-18-1.1(2) (dangerous weapon). The court sentenced Bryant to serve twelve years in the penitentiary with three years suspended and credit for time served. The court also ordered Bryant to pay Medicaid $31,246.69 in restitution for Rogers's medical expenses.

[¶14.] Bryant appeals, raising three issues, which we restate as follows:

1. Whether the circuit court committed plain error in finding that Medicaid qualified as a victim for purposes of restitution under SDCL 23A-28-2(5).

2. Whether the circuit court committed plain error by permitting testimony from Detectives Mertes and McGillivray that Bryant did not act in self-defense.

3. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion in denying Bryant's motion for a mistrial based on the prosecutor's statements during closing argument.

Analysis and Decision

[¶15.] When deciding whether to impose restitution, the circuit court held that Medicaid qualified as a victim under SDCL 23A-28-2(5), which provides that for purposes of restitution, a victim may include "any person who has by contract or statute undertaken to indemnify another[.]" Bryant argues that the circuit court erred as a matter of law in finding that Medicaid is a "victim" because Medicaid is administered by a state agency, the Department of Social Services (DSS), and does not qualify as a "person" under the definition set forth in SDCL 22-1-2(31). See State v. Jones , 2016 S.D. 86, ¶ 7, 888 N.W.2d 207, 208–09 (indicating that "a state agency is not considered a person for purposes of this statute unless its property is the subject of the crime or petty offense at issue").

[¶16.] The State submits that Bryant forfeited this argument by failing to raise his claim that Medicaid does not qualify as a victim under SDCL 23A-28-2(5) before the circuit court. The State asserts that Bryant instead objected only to the amount of restitution ordered based on the unavailability of Rogers's medical records at the time. During the first day of the sentencing hearing, Bryant's attorney stated:

The other thing is that there's an issue on some of the restitution. Ms. Ehlers has furnished me with itemized statements. The State was originally asking for like $40,000 in Medicaid restitution and then we objected to that and they went through it and now it's down to $31,000. There is -- we dispute that too, but it involves charges from after January 1st of 2018 and those medical records haven't been provided and they aren't in the presentence report. I think if we can get those, we might be able to resolve that issue too, so that might be helpful to be able to have time to get those -- to get those records.

Having failed to raise the issue, the State argues that Bryant's claim...