Jonathan Felkel received the maximum sentence July 16 for violating his Black neighbor’s housing rights in a racially motivated attack last summer.
Felkel was sentenced to 108 months, or nine years, in federal prison with three years of supervised release during an hour-long hearing. He was also the first person charged under Richland County’s Hate Intimidation ordinance, which, without a hate crime law in South Carolina, took the case to federal court.
Many of the laws advanced during the 2026 legislative session take effect Wednesday, including measures restricting access to abortion-inducing medication, increasing the speed limit on two-lane highways and limiting future governors’ powers during public health and disaster emergencies.
July 1, the beginning of the state’s fiscal year, is the default date for new laws to be enacted, unless otherwise specified.
Continue reading “These new laws are taking effect in Iowa July 1”
Over the last two decades, the federal government increasingly has utilized the criminal legal system to punish people for immigration violations. Particularly on the Southwest border, federal officials have vigorously prosecuted migrants either for entering the United States without permission or for reentering the country without permission after a prior deportation or removal order (commonly referred to, respectively, as “illegal entry” — although the statutory term is “improper entry” — and “illegal re-entry” of people previously deported; or collectively as “entry-related offenses”). Tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers are subjected to criminal prosecution for these crimes every year, in addition to the civil consequences they face under immigration law. Prosecutions for entry-related offenses reached an all-time high of 106,312 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, near the end of the first Trump administration, before plummeting to 14,297 in FY 2021 after the government began in March 2020 rapidly expelling most people crossing the border rather than referring them for prosecution. With the start of Trump’s second term in office, prosecutions for criminal violations of immigration law have risen significantly and expanded to new categories of offenses which have largely gone unprosecuted for generations.
Continue reading “Prosecuting People for Coming to the United States”
South Dakota has been selected to help lead one of the nation’s most important public safety information networks following the election of South Dakota Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (SDLETS) Director Kelli Erickson as President of NLETS, the International Justice and Public Safety Network.
Continue reading “South Dakota Selected to Lead National Law Enforcement Information Network”
As we celebrate Independence Day, we are reminded of the principles that have shaped our nation since its founding—liberty, justice, equality, and the rule of law. The Fourth of July is more than a celebration of our country’s independence; it is an opportunity to reflect on the freedoms we enjoy and the responsibilities we all share in preserving them.
Continue reading “Celebrating Independence Day: Honoring the Freedoms We Share”
Over 200 bills were signed into South Dakota law during the 2026 legislative session.
Generally, unless a bill has an emergency clause, South Dakota bills signed by the governor take affect July 1.
Continue reading “New laws taking effect July 1 in South Dakota”
A 17-count federal indictment unsealed Thursday charges 12 individuals in a vast conspiracy using drones to smuggle drugs, weapons and cellphones into 10 prisons across eight states, marking the largest federal prosecution of its kind to date.
The indictment, returned June 10 by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia, alleges the defendants used six drones to drop contraband at least 38 times between September 2023 and May 2026.
Continue reading “12 people face federal charges for a drone prison smuggling network”
Federal prosecutors invoked a rarely used conspiracy statute to bring charges against 15 Minnesotans Tuesday for actions taken throughout the immigration enforcement surge in the state.
In the 94-page indictment, and throughout a press release, the Justice Department claims members of the activist group Direct Action Minnesota conspired to survey, harass and physically confront federal immigration agents to impede the enforcement of immigration law.
Continue reading “Feds face pushback from legal experts for conspiracy charges against Minnesotans”
Federal law enforcement agencies and the Oglala Sioux Tribe have partnered to add the ammunition casing signatures of more than 500 firearms seized in criminal investigations on the Pine Ridge Reservation into a federal weapons database.
In clearing the backlog of untested firearms, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota hopes to find clues in unsolved cases on the reservation.
The South Dakota Supreme Court has overturned a drunken driving conviction that was predicated on a driver’s failure to use his turn signal 100 feet before reaching a stop sign.
In a 5-0 decision, the high court ruled that the Aberdeen police officer’s decision to initiate the stop was “objectively unreasonable” and based on an “incomplete” understanding of the law.
State law does not require the use of a turn signal in all circumstances, the court pointed out.
Continue reading “State Supreme court deems turn-signal stop ‘unreasonable’ in DUI case”