Several Mondays each year, Michael Jacobsma heads to the Sioux County Courthouse for court hearings involving criminal defendants he represents.

There’s a good chance the Orange City attorney will have hearings scheduled in O’Brien County at the same time. Perhaps Lyon and Osceola counties, too. Or maybe Plymouth, Clay or Woodbury counties — or all of them.

Known as court service days, when judges across Northwest Iowa hear motions, conduct pretrial conferences and take up other matters in criminal cases, Mondays routinely present Jacobsma and other private attorneys, who, like him, have agreed to accept judges’ appointments to represent defendants who can’t afford a lawyer, with a dilemma. How to make it from one county to another for all those hearings?

Continue reading “Iowa faces shortage of court-appointed attorneys” →

Continue reading “AG Releases ‘22 ‘Crime In South Dakota’ Report” →

This fall, a federal judge in Manhattan will consider whether to turn over control of Rikers Island from the city government to a court-appointed receiver who would be responsible for improving jail conditions. The decision comes amid continuing civil rights violations and systemic dysfunction. Since 2015, Rikers has been operating under a “consent decree,” which empowers the judge to enforce a negotiated plan to improve conditions inside the jail complex. Twenty-seven people have died in city jails under the current mayoral administration—eight this year alone.

Rikers is far from the only part of the criminal legal system under federal scrutiny. At any given time, some of the largest police departments and jail systems in the United States are operating under consent decrees. Jurisdictions under these agreements are required to change their unlawful practices, which in some cases have led to discrimination or death, with progress enforced by a federal court and often tracked by a court-appointed monitor. If a jurisdiction repeatedly fails to comply with the requirements of the agreement, it can be held in contempt of court and, in extreme cases of noncompliance, the court could even decide to turn over control of the department to another party.

Continue reading “Consent Decrees: Everything You Need to Know” →

The South Dakota chapter of Americans for Prosperity hosted a sit-down discussion with guest speakers at the Hampton Inn in Sioux Falls on Thursday. Among the guest speakers were Senator John Thune and Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Swenson and the central topic of their discussion was immigration and the southern border. Members of the AFP and multiple state leaders just got back from McAllen, Texas to see challenges at the border first-hand. They brought their stories from the trip to encourage open discussions on an important topic.

“Visiting with the private business folks of the water district, the gentleman that we visited with was saying that we have everything that we need to be able to solve this issue, to make our border safe, and to do immigration legally, but we don’t have the political will,” said the state director for the AFP South Dakota chapter, Keith Moore.

Continue reading “Americans for Prosperity in South Dakota discuss solutions at the United States’ southern border, impacts on South Dakota” →

Iowa schools are starting this week. Do you know when it is legal to pass a stopped school bus?

In March 2012, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed into law Senate File 2218, the “Keep Aware Driving –Youth Need School Safety Act.” The law helps to prevent deaths and serious injuries to Iowa’s school children while boarding or unloading from a school bus.

The act increased the criminal penalties for passing a stopped school bus and directed the Iowa DOT to enact rules that make illegally passing a stopped school bus a serious moving violation that triggers increasing periods of suspension for first, second, and subsequent offenses.

All drivers should be alert and aware of the Danger Zone. This is an area on all sides of a bus where children are in the most danger if not seen by a driver, while they load and unload from the bus.

Drivers traveling on a two to three-lane road from the rear of a school bus, watch for flashing red lights or amber warning lights. At this time, drivers should be prepared to stop and are not allowed to pass the school bus until the stop arm is retracted.

When drivers meet the bus from the front, watch for amber warning lights flashing. These lights warn drivers to slow vehicles to 20 mph and prepare to stop. Driver must remain stopped while the stop arm is extended until it is retracted.

For drivers traveling on roads with more than two lanes in each direction behind a school bus, the rules are the same as the roads with two or three lanes.

Traveling on roads with more than two lanes in each direction meeting the bus from the front does not need to stop even if the bus has stopped with flashing lights and stop arm out.

You can read the full article at Siouxland Proud.

Inside a jail cell at Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, Albertyn Pino’s only plan was to finish the six-month sentence for public intoxication, along with other charges, and to return to her abusive boyfriend.

That’s when she was offered a lifeline: An invitation to the tribe’s Healing to Wellness Court. She would be released early if she agreed to attend alcohol treatment and counseling sessions, secure a bed at a shelter, get a job, undergo drug testing and regularly check in with a judge.

Pino, now 53, ultimately completed the requirements and, after about a year and a half, the charges were dropped. She looks back at that time, 15 years ago, and is grateful that people envisioned a better future for her when she struggled to see one for herself.

“It helped me start learning more about myself, about what made me tick, because I didn’t know who I was,” said Pino, who is now a case manager and certified peer support worker. “I didn’t know what to do.”

The concept of treating people in the criminal justice system holistically is not new in Indian Country, but there are new programs coming on board as well as expanded approaches. About one-third of the roughly 320 tribal court systems across the country have aspects of this healing and wellness approach, according to the National American Indian Court Judges Association.

Some tribes are incorporating these aspects into more specialized juvenile and family courts, said Kristina Pacheco, Tribal Healing to Wellness Court specialist for the California-based Tribal Law and Policy Institute. The court judges association is also working on pilot projects for holistic defense — which combine legal advocacy and support — with tribes in Alaska, Nevada and Oklahoma, modeled after a successful initiative at the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana.

“The thought and the concept will be different from tribe to tribe,” said Pacheco. “But ultimately, we all want our tribal people … to not hurt, not suffer.”

People in the program typically are facing nonviolent misdemeanors, such as a DUI, public intoxication or burglary, she said. Some courts, like in the case of Pino, drop the charges once participants complete the program.

A program at the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe in Washington state applies restorative principles, and assigns wellness coaches to serve Native Americans and non-Natives in the local county jail, a report released earlier this year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation outlined. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma has a reintegration program that includes financial support and housing services, as well as cultural programming, career development and legal counsel. In Alaska, the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s wellness court helps adults in tribal and state court who are battling substance abuse and incorporates elements of their tribe’s culture.

“There’s a lot of shame and guilt when you’re arrested,” said Mary Rodriguez, staff attorney for the court judges association. “You don’t reach out to those resources, you feel that you aren’t entitled to those resources, that those are for somebody who isn’t in trouble with the law.”

You can read the full article at Now This News.

Voting rights activists and Republican officials across the country are battling over whether felons should have their voting privileges restored once they’ve served their punishments.

Why it matters: The tussle is largely partisan, with most Republicans opposing felons voting and Democrats — including those in Congress seeking a national standard for restoring felons to voting rolls — backing the idea as a key step toward rehabilitation.

• A big reason for that divide: Felons are four times as likely as non-felons to be Democrats or politically unaffiliated, a 2019 study found. Only 20% of felons identified as Republicans after being released.
• That’s made felon voting a key point of contention in the run-up to the 2024 elections.

Continue reading “Voting rights for formerly incarcerated people” →

It’s no secret that navigating the complex justice system is a little daunting—Especially when you’re facing serious charges. Such circumstances really test you in all ways. Though federal criminal defense attorneys can certainly help, we highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the fundamentals of criminal defense for a solid understanding.

Knowing all this can help prepare your defense properly and it could very well be the difference between acquittal and conviction, freedom and imprisonment.

Continue reading “Understanding Criminal Defense Strategies: Preparing for Courtroom Success” →

“Criminal statistics help identify trends in criminal activity that assists in crime prevention and enforcement efforts across South Dakota.”

This was Attorney General Marty Jackley’s message as he released the anticipated 2022 Crime in South Dakota Report.

Continue reading “Despite decrease in crime totals, narcotics, vehicle theft continue to rise in South Dakota” →

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces the Crime in South Dakota 2022 Report is indicating that the number of criminal offenses reported statewide in 2022 were consistent with 2021.

South Dakota law enforcement agencies reported the number of total criminal offenses during 2022 were 68,768, which is slightly down from 69,430 in 2021. There were 36,390 arrests made in 2022, which is also a decrease from 38,160 recorded in 2021.

Continue reading “Crime in South Dakota 2022 Report shows similar stats to 2021” →