Imagine being convicted of a crime—not because you intended to break the law, but simply because what you did was unknowingly illegal. That’s the problem we’re facing as mens rea (Latin for “guilty mind”) is increasingly ignored or watered down in our federal laws.

Without clear mens rea standards, innocent people can be punished for accidental or technical violations of the law. Additionally, the absence of intent requirements gives prosecutors unbridled discretion, which can lead to politically motivated or unfair charges.

Continue reading “Crime or Mistake? Why Intent Matters in the Law” →

A Canadian citizen has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for intentionally damaging energy infrastructure facilities in both North and South Dakota, thanks in part to assistance from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office among several other agencies.

United States District Court Judge Daniel M. Traynor issued the sentence to Cameron Monte Smith, 50, on Monday, March 10, 2025. The sentence was announced jointly by Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl for the District of North Dakota, and U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell for the District of South Dakota.

Continue reading “Canadian Sentenced to 25 Years for Attacking Energy Infrastructure in Dakotas” →

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden has signed a bill that will loosen his state’s felony ingestion statutes, which are among the nation’s strictest laws on drug use.

Senate Bill 83 reduces first- and second-offense ingestion of controlled substances from class five felonies to class one misdemeanors. Maximum penalties for the charges, which typically stem from urine test results, will fall from five years in prison and a $10,000 fine to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Continue reading “South Dakota governor signs bill loosening one of nation’s harshest drug laws” →

Iowa law enforcement officials could be subject to a Class D felony charge if they defy state law on immigration enforcement under a bill approved by a House subcommittee Wednesday.

House Study Bill 285 states that law enforcement officers, including elected sheriffs, who “knowingly and intentionally” fail to comply with the state’s laws regarding federal immigration law enforcement, would face a Class D felony charge. The charge is punishable by up to five years in jail and fines of between $1,025 and $10,245.

Continue reading “Bill would impose felony for Iowa law officers who defy state immigration law” →

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.

Continue reading “South Dakota’s lone death row inmate argues for new appeals in federal court” →

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.

Continue reading “Attorney General Jackley Releases 2024 Crime in South Dakota Report” →

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.

Continue reading “Lawmakers approve sweeping approach to internet porn age verification” →

The South Dakota Senate advanced legislation Wednesday allowing enhanced permit holders to carry concealed weapons on public university and technical college campuses after adopting amendments and adding safety restrictions.

The vote was 33 to 2.

Continue reading “South Dakota Senate Approves Bill for Concealed Carry on College Campuses” →

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.

Continue reading “North Dakota’s ‘Truth-in-Sentencing’ Bill Could Cost More Than $250 Million” →

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.

Continue reading “Lab-grown meat labeling, fees for serving legal papers, stenography rule change signed into law” →