2/7/14

Pennington County quiet on Rounds, Daugaard kidnapping charges

Recall the resignation of Judge A.P. (Pete) Fuller in 2011:
Pennington County State’s Attorney Glenn Brenner, Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender and then Pennington County Sheriff Don Holloway made the formal complaint in May that led to Fuller’s suspension and subsequent investigation by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, a seven-member body that includes 7th Circuit Court Judge Jeff Davis of Rapid City. The frustration in the State’s Attorney’s Office reached the boiling point when Judge Fuller called Rapid City police officers a “bunch of racists” while listening to an officer explain in a juvenile court hearing why he stopped a car driven by a Native American who was on probation. [Andrea Cook, Rapid City Journal]
One astute Journal respondent said it this way:
South Dakotans, your memories seem to be hazy. Fuller, a Democrat, is being asked to leave because he engaged in some relatively mildly inappropriate comments. However, when a Republican Governor does the same thing, while killing people on his own time (and then denying the right of the family to sue him by claiming he was on government time), and breaking the speeding laws even more than Kristi, then it seems to be okay. Fuller is being removed because he is a Democrat, period.

Comes this from Brandon Ecoffey of Native Sun News, posted at indianz:
During an abuse and neglect case there are four primary stages that take place. The initial stage takes place when social services, the police, or some other agent of the government removes a child from the home under the suspicion of neglect. After the removal the next step of the process is a hearing must take place to determine whether the child is in immediate danger and needs to remain in the custody of the state. The third stage involves a trial to determine if neglect has actually taken place, and the final stage involves the placement of a child in a foster home for an undetermined amount of time. The lawsuit challenges the second step. In Pennington County during the initial hearing the parents of a child who has been taken are not allowed to see or challenge the evidence that is being used to take custody of their child. According to the suit there is no attempt at all from the state to provide any level of due process. [Ecoffey, ICWA ruling opens door for tribal lawsuits]
The dominoes are being lifted into place: yet to known is whom will trip them or when.

South Dakota's attorney general wants to torture prisoners on death row before they die: the state is preparing to kill an Anchorage, Alaska man for his part in the 2000 slaying of a Spearditch man and another suffering from severe psychological trauma.
Texas, South Dakota and Georgia have turned to private compounding pharmacies to make their pentobarbital. South Dakota already has executed two people using the drug from a private pharmacy. [Kevin O'Hanlon, Report: Grim future for U.S. death penalty, Lincoln Journal Star]
Marty Jackley, of course, is simply an asshole.
Attorney General Marty Jackly [sic] says he will oppose any effort to repeal the state’s death penalty during this year’s legislative session. The idea of repealing the death penalty has become a legislative focus for some since Sioux Falls Representative Steve Hickey said last month that he will introduce a bill to do so. Hickey, a pastor, has said he believes the death penalty does not prevent people from committing crimes or improves public safety. [KCCR Radio News]
South Dakota: Land of Infinite

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