Existing federal criminal law likely covers people who intentionally use AI to commit crimes, but leaves a significant gap when an AI agent causes harm while carrying out a noncriminal instruction. A new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report concludes that new legislation would be needed to hold humans accountable for those unanticipated AI agent actions. ​

Recent disclosures from OpenAI and Anthropic prompted the analysis. OpenAI disclosed that its AI agents hacked into another AI company’s systems, infiltrated an Australian government website and accessed private data, and “interacted” with U.S. government websites “in unusual ways.” Anthropic said it identified and disrupted operations in which actors attempted to use its models and agents “for malicious activity.”

Continue reading “Litigating Damages Done By AI Agents Exposes Gaps In Criminal Law” →

Attorney General Marty Jackley has released the 2026 Police Management Study compiled by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation’s Statistical Analysis Center (SAC).

“This survey gives South Dakota Police Departments a better way to compare expenditures and resources to other offices their same size,” said Attorney General Jackley. “We hope this survey will provide departments with ideas on how to handle many of the same issues they face in their own communities.”

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The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled this week that a father doesn’t have a right to obtain investigation records he wanted about his son’s death.

Ryan Pyle, age 37, went missing in August 2020, and his remains were found in November of that year near the Snake Creek Recreation Area in South Dakota, near the city of Platte. Law enforcement believed he died of hypothermia. His father, Brian Pyle, believed the death may have involved foul play.

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Torturing a companion animal will be charged as a felony in Iowa under a measure signed into law Monday by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Reynolds, joined by lawmakers and advocates, signed House File 2348 into law at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa shelter in Des Moines. The law establishes a Class D felony charge for animal torture, defined as when a person “intentionally, willfully, and maliciously mutilates, burns, poisons, drowns, starves or causes intensive or prolonged pain or death to a companion animal, or provides anything of value to another person to do the same.”

Continue reading “Gov. Kim Reynolds signs law making animal torture a felony on first offense” →

Twenty airbag modules arrived at Chicago O’Hare in August 2024 inside boxes that claimed to hold desktop night lights.

They were counterfeit Honda airbags, shipped from China to a used-car lot in Galloway, Ohio, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized them. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, the same Chinese shipper sent four more batches that month, described the same cheerful way: desktop night lights, blue desktop nightlights. When agents searched JB Ohio Auto Sale in May 2025, they found more of them, some piled in a clothes hamper under a towel.

Continue reading “He Imported 44 Fake Honda Airbags. The Trademark Is What Made It A Federal Crime.” →

Crime in major categories continued to go down in 2025, according to a new report from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

As in past years, crime is at a multi-decade low, reaching levels Minnesota hasn’t seen since the 1960s. That’s driven largely by a decrease in property crimes — which includes theft and, more rarely, arson — which are far more common than violent crime and make up the bulk of the crime rate.

Continue reading “Crime in Minnesota fell again in 2025” →

A request for clemency from a man convicted of a sex offense 25 years ago spurred a discussion on the purpose of a pardon Wednesday at a meeting of the South Dakota board empowered to make recommendations to the governor.

The 57-year-old who applied for the pardon hasn’t been charged with a crime since he was convicted of sexual contact with a minor.

He wants to have the 2001 offense cleared from his record, he said in his application, because he felt his actions since the crime show that he’s paid his debt to society. He also said he’d recently lost a job he’d held for years in the logging industry, and felt the conviction would make it difficult to find employment again.

Continue reading “Pardon request 25 years after sex offense sparks discussion on purpose of clemency in South Dakota” →

A federal judge will decide whether South Dakota’s secretary of state is violating the U.S. Constitution with allegedly misleading letters to voters registered as federal-only, and by allegedly failing to tell them how to change their status.

Judge Eric Schulte heard oral arguments Friday and said he expects to release a decision next week.

The case deals with how the state’s chief elections officer is implementing legislation approved by lawmakers and signed into law by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden in March.

Continue reading “Lawyers argue over South Dakota’s notification letters to voters registered as federal-only” →

Continue reading “SD’s next attorney general aims to undo criminal justice reforms, just not right away” →

Kayla Essem prayed she’d get arrested.

The 32-year-old from Sioux Falls said she had been on and off drugs since she was in high school — fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and meth. Addiction was the only thing she was destined for, she believed, after seeing family members struggle.

Years of drug use frayed her self-confidence and robbed her of stability. She and her partner split, so she saw her two children less often. She fell into an abusive relationship and overdosed in 2024.

Maybe jail would be enough to “scare me straight,” she thought, to loosen the control drugs had on her life.

It was, and it wasn’t. Beyond a jail stay, she ultimately found help in a program that’s available in some South Dakota counties.

Essem was at a city park in June 2025 when a police officer stopped her and asked to search her purse. She confessed she had drugs in it. She faced a felony charge for meth possession and a misdemeanor charge for drug paraphernalia, with a possibility of years in prison and thousands in fines.

After a night in the Minnehaha County Jail, Essem said she still craved meth. While on bail, she placed herself into an inpatient treatment center at Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health Services in Yankton and went through crippling withdrawal.

When she returned home a month and a half after her arrest, Essem’s attorney told her to call the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s Office. Becky Brown, the adult diversion coordinator, had an offer: get the charges dropped by enrolling in and completing the county’s adult diversion program.

Minnehaha’s program is one of at least four in the state, including Pennington, Yankton and Brookings counties. The total number is unknown because of a lack of central coordination. While officials say the programs are effective, they’re difficult to expand within those existing counties and to additional counties since the state doesn’t support it with funding like it does for youth diversion.

The programs are run by each county’s state’s attorney and offer people accused of crimes an opportunity to take responsibility for their actions while avoiding jail or prison time. Eligibility for the programs varies by county, from marijuana and underage alcohol crimes in Brookings County to first-time, nonviolent crimes in Minnehaha County, and beyond that to some violent crimes in Pennington County when victims consent and other conditions are met. Program graduates can get their case expunged if they remain arrest-free for 13 months, according to state law.

Essem took the offer. It was a challenge “to be better, to do better,” she said.

She graduated in March, has a job handling packages at a distribution center in Sioux Falls and said she is 13 months sober. The charges can be expunged from her record in October.

“Diversion helped me grow in a way that made me realize what I want and put boundaries up for myself,” Essem said.

The diversion program Essem completed has been offered in Minnehaha County since 2021 and primarily serves young adults. State’s Attorney Daniel Haggar said he wanted to have an impact on people who’ve committed their first criminal offenses.

“It’s really having the opportunity to change lives early on and really give people a purpose in life that’s free from substance abuse where they can be productive members of our community,” Haggar said.

State’s attorneys see impact, cost savings

Brookings County, the home of South Dakota State University, has had an adult diversion program since 2019, focusing on people of college age who are charged for underage drinking. The county added marijuana-related offenses in 2020.

The program requires 10 hours of community service and a three-hour class through Brookings Behavioral Health. Brookings participants pay the $120 cost so the program doesn’t involve taxpayer funds, said State’s Attorney Dan Nelson. Yankton has similar requirements and requires participants to pay the $75 fee, unless they can’t afford it.

You can read the full article at South Dakota Searchlight.