A state Supreme Court decision has been returned in the case of State v. Elias Richard. In it, justices found lower court proceedings did not prejudice Richard’s original murder trial.
Richard’s case dates to Christmas Eve 2020, a Rapid City shooting that ultimately led to the death of Vernall Marshall.
Police described the shooting as a gang-connected drug deal gone wrong.
The initial trial faced conflicting accounts of the night from eyewitnesses including the identity of the shooter. The jury decided against a first-degree murder conviction for Richard at sentencing.
Witness testimony of Kaleb Lukkes, another individual involved with the case, puts the gun in Richard’s hand at the time of the shooting. Lukkes testified he loaded the firearm and instructed Richard to intimidate the victim. For his involvement in the shooting, Lukkes was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Lukkes offered tattoos as evidence attributing to his connection to the gang, the "Dark Side Families." In testimony, Lukkes alleged Richard was also a member.
The defense argued the gang affiliation did nothing to prove his involvement with the crime, describing much of the evidence presented at trial as “circumstantial.” When questioned, an individual connected to the gang said he couldn’t recall if Richard was a member, and Richard himself never admitted to gang connections.
Defense cited State v. Hart, a case where the Supreme Court threw out the use of a victim’s gang affiliations at trial as irrelevant.
The Supreme Court writes the use of Richard’s gang affiliations are relevant to connect Richard to the Marshall shooting, as the two were otherwise unconnected. Further, in the State v. Hart ruling, the Supreme Court did not write that gang ties are categorically inadmissible at trial.
The court found the circuit court did not abuse its discretion during trial, and as a result did not pass judgement of if Richard was prejudiced in his original trial.
The motion for mistrial was denied, with the state arguing the evidence present is enough to convict him of murder as an aiding and abetting party.
Richard was convicted on a count of second-degree murder with a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.