South Dakota Supreme Court rejects appeal in rape conviction

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a Sioux Falls man convicted in a 2015 rape.

Jurors convicted Jonathan Jerome Packard of second-degree rape after DNA evidence from a sexual assault examination kit matched him to the rape of a woman in her garage.

Packard argued the court should not have allowed the jury to see a nurse’s note from the victim’s sexual assault evaluation. In the note, the victim described her assailant.

During jury selection, a uniformed Sioux Falls police officer was excused after he said he knew Packard. The officer was not asked how he knew Packard, but Packard argued the other jurors likely assumed the officer knew Packard “due to his prior encounters with the criminal justice system.”

The Supreme Court denied both claims.