State v. Lyerla

State v. Lyerla
State v. Lyerla
Court	Supreme Court of South Dakota
Full case name	State of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee. v. Gerald K. Lyerla, Defendant and Appellant.
Decided	June 8, 1988
Citation	424 N.W.2d 908
Court membership
Judges sitting	George W. Wuest, Robert E. Morgan, Frank Henderson, Richard W. Sabers, John K. Konenkamp
Case opinions
Decision by	Konenkamp
Concurrence	Morgan, Henderson, Wuest
Dissent	Sabers
Keywords
	Homicide; Intent;

State v. Lyerla, Supreme Court of South Dakota, 424 N.W.2d 908 (1988), is a criminal case in which it was found that an attempt to commit a crime with an element of recklessness is a logical impossibility; specifically, that attempted second degree murder is logically impossible.^[1]^{: 671–675}

Lyerla randomly shot into a truck three times after being goaded by the driver of the truck.^[1]^{: 671–675} One shot killed the driver and the others did not hit the driver or either of two passengers.^[1]^{: 671–675}

Lyerla was convicted of second degree murder for killing the driver.^[1]^{: 671–675} Lyerla was convicted on two counts of attempted second degree murder of each passenger.^[1]^{: 671–675}

Lyerla appealed on the ground that it is a logical impossibility to attempt second degree murder, since attempt requires specific intent and recklessness implies lack of such intent.^[1]^{: 671–675} Implied in the jury finding of second degree murder, rather than first degree murder which was also sought, was lack of specific intent to kill anyone in the truck, but rather a reckless disregard for their life.^[1]^{: 671–675}

The court agreed with Lyerla and reversed the conviction.^[1]^{: 671–675} The court wrote:

"In order to attempt to commit a crime, there must exist in the mind of the perpetrator the specific intent to commit the acts constituting the offence. To attempt second degree murder one must intend to have a criminally reckless state of mind... [a] logical impossibility."^[1]^{: 671–675}

Notes

^ Circuit judge; sitting in place of Robert A. Miller

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Criminal Law - Cases and Materials, 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, ISBN 978-1-4548-0698-1, [1]

External links

Text of State v. Lyerla is available from: CourtListener Google Scholar Justia Leagle

This article relating to case law in the United States or its constituent jurisdictions is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Circuit judge; sitting in place of Robert A. Miller

[CL-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Criminal Law - Cases and Materials, 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, ISBN 978-1-4548-0698-1, [1]

[a]

[1]