public defenders

The Brown County Courthouse is located in Aberdeen and is connected to other county offices, such as the Auditor's Office and the Brown County Jail. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Booze tax should help pay county legal bills, state senator says

BY: - September 25, 2023

Liquor, beer and wine might offer relief to counties stuck paying for alcohol’s impact on public safety, if a recommendation from a public defense task force becomes law. Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, would like to see the state dedicate its half of the $18 million collected in alcohol taxes to finance the creation and operation […]

Legislators on the Study Committee on County Funding and Services address a crowd at the South Dakota County Convention in Sioux Falls on Sept. 13, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Task force will ask Legislature for millions to help with county legal costs

BY: - September 14, 2023

The top proposal to come out of the legislative summer study on county funding could cost an estimated $35 million to $50 million annually, according to a committee member. The proposal would set a cap on public defender and court-appointed attorney costs for counties, likely around $10,000 for each case, while the state would cover […]

An equal justice statue sits outside the doors of the Minnehaha County Courthouse in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Task force recommends creation of state public defender’s office

BY: - July 31, 2023

A task force studying the cost of public defense costs to South Dakota counties has concluded that a state public defender’s office could ease the burden. A seven-person office would cost the state around $1.4 million a year under a rough outline of its duties presented Monday during a virtual meeting of the Indigent Legal […]

Fifth Circuit Court Judge Tony Portra speaks at the Brown County listening session with members of the Indigent Legal Defense Task Force. The meeting was held in the Brown County Courthouse basement in Aberdeen on May 17, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Officials seek help for counties at first listening session on public defense costs

BY: - May 17, 2023

ABERDEEN — The caseload of defendants who can’t afford a lawyer has increased exponentially in Brown County in recent years, and public defense costs for criminal cases have more than doubled in the last decade in the county and across the state. That’s putting increased pressure on the county to cover the costs for the […]

The Brown County Courthouse is located in Aberdeen and is connected to other county offices, such as the Auditor's Office and the Brown County Jail. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

South Dakota one of few states to saddle counties with public defense costs

BY: - March 31, 2023

All U.S. citizens have a right to an attorney when charged with a crime, even if they can’t afford one.  Only 11 states, including South Dakota, use local rather than state dollars to pay for the vast majority of public defense. Just one state relies more heavily on counties to pay the cost than South […]

Chief Justice Steven Jensen addresses the South Dakota Legislature in Pierre on Jan. 11, 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

South Dakota set to scrutinize its approach to court-appointed attorneys

BY: - January 31, 2023

The state of South Dakota may soon form a team to examine the way it assigns and pays its court-appointed lawyers. Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee signed off Tuesday on a bill that would create a public defense task force in South Dakota, adding an emergency clause that would allow work to begin immediately […]

Chief Justice Steven Jensen addresses the South Dakota Legislature in Pierre on Jan. 11, 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Chief justice: Contested elections for local judges may dissolve under lawmaker proposal

BY: - January 11, 2023

South Dakotans would lose the right to elect judges under a proposal from lawmakers that the state’s chief justice addressed Wednesday during his State of the Judiciary speech. Judges can rise to the bench by way of the ballot, but most do not.  Judicial elections are mandated by the state constitution, but they only happen […]