Category: Uncategorized

South Dakota’s lone death row inmate argues for new appeals in federal court

South Dakota’s lone death row inmate argues for new appeals in federal court

The only man on death row in South Dakota wants a federal judge to give him another set of appeals because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upended its prior guidance on the authority of federal bureaucrats.

In 2000, Briley Piper, Elijah Page and Darrell Hoadley tortured and killed Chester Allan Poage near Spearfish.

Piper and Page received death sentences; Hoadley was sentenced to life in prison.

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Attorney General Jackley Releases 2024 Crime in South Dakota Report

Attorney General Jackley Releases 2024 Crime in South Dakota Report

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that the overall number of reported criminal offenses reported statewide in 2024 increased 1.21 percent compared to 2023.

The Crime in South Dakota 2024 Report indicated that the number of reported criminal offenses was 67,959 in 2024 compared to 67,145 in 2023.

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Lawmakers approve sweeping approach to internet porn age verification

Lawmakers approve sweeping approach to internet porn age verification

More than a dozen states have passed or are considering laws to require porn sites to ask adults who want to visit them for personal information to prove their age.

So far, each of them — including Texas, whose law had an audience with the U.S. Supreme Court last month — have applied the rule to sites on which a third or more of the content counts as pornography.

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North Dakota's 'Truth-in-Sentencing' Bill Could Cost More Than $250 Million

North Dakota’s ‘Truth-in-Sentencing’ Bill Could Cost More Than $250 Million

A bill to reduce opportunities for early release and work programs for North Dakota inmates is advancing through the state legislature, but the steep price tag has pitted the prison system against the bill’s biggest supporter—the state attorney general.

Senate Bill 2128 would require violent offenders in North Dakota to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences in prison—a so-called “truth-in-sentencing” provision—before they could be eligible for release to a halfway house or other transitional program. It would also create mandatory sentences of 14 to 30 days for those convicted of resisting arrest, assaulting law enforcement officers, and felony fleeing.

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Lab-grown meat labeling, fees for serving legal papers, stenography rule change signed into law

Lab-grown meat labeling, fees for serving legal papers, stenography rule change signed into law

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden has signed bills into law to let county sheriffs charge a fee for serving legal papers, open the records of former governors five years faster, and require lab-grown meat to be labeled as such.

Also among the 14 bills Rhoden signed Monday: A repeal of the right of parties in some court cases to demand a court reporter if a judge feels a transcribable audio recording will do.

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Alleged mistreatment of migrant workers nets felony charges for Minnesota farmer

Alleged mistreatment of migrant workers nets felony charges for Minnesota farmer

A central Minnesota dairy farmer is facing felony wage theft and racketeering charges over allegations that he underpaid and mistreated his migrant workers.

In a criminal complaint filed Monday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison alleges that Keith Lawrence Schaefer of Richmond, Minn., routinely withheld pay, including overtime, from at least 18 workers in violation of the state’s 2019 wage theft law.

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With stenographers in short supply, SD lawmakers advance bill letting judges opt for recordings

With stenographers in short supply, SD lawmakers advance bill letting judges opt for recordings

A shortage of stenographers in South Dakota helped spur unanimous support in a legislative committee for a bill that would allow judges to decide if a stenographer is necessary in lower-level court hearings.

Stenographers, also called court reporters, are people who transcribe everything said in a court proceeding, using stenographic machines with specialized keyboards.

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Iowa immigration law blocked by federal appeals court

Iowa immigration law blocked by federal appeals court

Iowa may not enforce a 2024 state law that makes it a crime for a person who was previously deported to enter the state, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

A three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Iowa’s statute is likely preempted by federal immigration law, because enforcement of Iowa’s law would invade the U.S. government’s interest in enforcing federal immigration law.

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