On this episode of The Bracewell Sidebar, hosts Matthew Nielsen and Seth DuCharme discuss how one goes about getting a search warrant in light of recent events, including what is required and what inferences can be fairly drawn from the existence of a warrant.
New Biden administration rules that put homemade firearm kits used to build “ghost guns” in the same legal category as traditional firearms went into effect on Wednesday after federal judges declined requests to pause the change.
The regulations require that the main components used to manufacture ghost guns — the frames and receivers — be assigned serial numbers. They also require that buyers undergo background checks before purchasing the components and that dealers be federally licensed to sell the kits and keep records of sales.
Continue reading “Federal ‘ghost gun’ regulations go into effect after judges reject challenges”
Combat veterans in South Dakota are encouraged by new legislation in Congress to expand treatment and benefits for soldiers exposed to toxic burn pits during deployment overseas, but questions remain about the federal government’s ability to provide the needed health care effectively.
Those questions partly explain why Republican senators John Thune and Mike Rounds of South Dakota initially opposed the PACT Act, voting against it twice before public pressure and an agreement to consider GOP amendments swayed their votes to the yes column on Aug. 2.
The measure passed the Senate by a vote of 86-11, clearing the way for President Joe Biden, who signed it into law on Aug. 10.
Continue reading “Burn pit law passes, but struggles may remain”
A state law allowing landowners to privatize access to sections of public lakes continues to cause confusion in northeastern South Dakota.
Ryan Roehr has been fishing in the Webster area all his life. He’s also a board member for the South Dakota Wildlife Federation.
Continue reading “Concerns persist over law limiting public access to lakes”
The federal government can’t use “circumstantial evidence” to permanently confiscate nearly $70,000 in cash, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. “While it may be dubious to drive around with a large amount of cash in one’s car,” Judge Julius Richardson wrote for the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, “it does not create an inescapable inference of criminal activity. Not using a bank does not necessarily make one a criminal.”
Continue reading “Federal Court Upholds The Right To Carry Cash”
Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum did not mince words when describing the city’s fifth shooting involving an officer in less than five months, an unprecedented surge.
”These people are trying to kill our officers,” Thum said, “and that is something we are obviously very concerned about.”
Thum made a rare appearance at the city’s daily police briefing on Wednesday and partnered with Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead to answer over 25 minutes of questions from reporters about a Tuesday incident in which a man pulled a gun and shot at an officer, who immediately fired back and killed him.
Continue reading “Police chief, sheriff say violent crime spike has many reasons”
With the annual Sturgis Rally ready to kick off in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Native American advocacy organization Native Hope is raising awareness of human trafficking at the rally, especially among Native women.
“Human trafficking of young Native American girls is a real issue here in South Dakota. Our goal is to help raise awareness, as well as to fund programs that offer girls the support they desperately need,” said Native Hope Director Julie Muldoon in 2016.
Continue reading “Group Raising Awareness of Human Trafficking at South Dakota’s Sturgis Rally”
Grand juries play a major role in the U.S. criminal justice system. And they’re very much in the news these days.
A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, is looking into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state. Among the latest witnesses to give testimony to the grand jury was Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
In Washington, D.C., the U.S. Justice Department is in the middle of an investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and it is questioning witnesses before a grand jury as well. Most recently, two top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence were questioned in that probe.
Federal and state justice department officials said they are committed to supporting victims of hate crimes.
The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission’s third annual report reviewing the state’s recent bias crime and non-criminal bias incident reporting data illustrates a key concern, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.
The report noted that calls to the Oregon Department of Justice Bias Response Hotline increased by 53% from 2020 to 2021.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon and the FBI Portland Field Office officials state in a release that they “commend individuals who have courageously come forward to report hate-related incidents and activity.”
Continue reading “Hate Crimes: Federal, state agencies encourage community reporting”
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling expanding state authority to prosecute some crimes on Native American land is fracturing decades of law built around the hard-fought principle that tribes have the right to govern themselves on their own territory, legal experts say.
The Wednesday ruling is a marked departure from federal Indian law and veers from the push to increase tribes’ ability to prosecute all crimes on reservations — regardless of who is involved. It also cast tribes as part of states, rather than the sovereign nations they are, infuriating many across Indian Country.
Continue reading “Experts: US Court fractures decades of Native American law”