State v. White Face

KONENKAMP, Justice.

[¶ 1.] In a case where two separate and distinct incidents of abuse were alleged in a one-count indictment, the jury found Patrick White Face guilty of aggravated child abuse under SDCL 26-10-1. But the jurors were not instructed that to reach a verdict they would have to agree unanimously on at least one of the two allegations. In some circumstances, multiple instances of child abuse can be subsumed in one count, because separate incidents may be part of a continuous course of conduct. Yet here the State took the position that White Face could be found guilty based on…