State of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Gloria Burtzlaff, Defendant and Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Burtzlaff's conviction for first-degree manslaughter and her twenty-year sentence. It held that the evidence supported a finding that she lacked a design to effect death, that the trial court properly limited expert testimony and rejected the claimed hearsay and instructional errors, and that the State disproved self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. The court also concluded that the sentence was within statutory limits, considered the battered-woman-syndrome evidence, and did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.