South Dakota Unified Judicial System
Report: State court system fields fewer criminal cases
The number of criminal case filings dropped in South Dakota in fiscal year 2023, continuing a five-year slide in criminal caseloads. The drop in caseloads appears in the state Unified Judicial System’s annual report, released this week. The drop is a contrast from the arrest figures in the state Division of Criminal Investigation’s annual “Crime […]
Booze tax should help pay county legal bills, state senator says
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 […]
Officials seek help for counties at first listening session on public defense costs
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 […]
Chief justice: Contested elections for local judges may dissolve under lawmaker proposal
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 […]
Prosecutors win judgeships in two state court circuits
The longtime Lawrence County State’s Attorney will ride out the twilight of his legal career on the bench in South Dakota’s Fourth Judicial Circuit. John H. Fitzgerald, 67, bested four other candidates Tuesday for the single open seat in the circuit – the largest slate of candidates for a single judgeship since the 1972 election. […]
‘Three strikes’ rule for young offenders endorsed by legislative panel
A legislative panel wants to make it easier for judges to detain juveniles, require school resource officers to report suspected drug use to school officials, fund community response teams to deal with low-level offenders and offer a new path to graduation for troubled youth. Those were among the proposals that emerged during the final meeting […]
Circuit court bench in SD struggles to diversify
Just under half the people in state prisons in South Dakota are people of color, but none of the judges who sent them there are. The general election on Nov. 8 won’t change that. Circuit judges in South Dakota, who preside over the felony criminal cases that can send a defendant to prison, come up […]