PIERRE, SD – The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of a Rapid City man who argued he did not commit murder because he was only helping a friend commit suicide. Robert Goulding was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the 2008 shooting death of his friend, Allen Kissner, of Redfield near Sheridan Lake in the Black Hills. Kissner wanted to die because he was in chronic, terminal pain and likely was returning to prison. Court documents say Goulding shot Kissner at Kissner’s request.
Goulding argued he should be convicted of assisting in a suicide, not murder.
The Supreme Court says the trial judge was correct to instruct the jury that a death is not a suicide when someone else performs the overt act causing the death.
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