S.D. Congressman Found Guilty Of Manslaughter

local6.com ^ | December 8, 2003 | Associated Press

[Bubba_Leroy]

S.D. Congressman Found Guilty Of Manslaughter

Janklow Charged With Speeding, Reckless Driving, 2nd-Degree Manslaughter

POSTED: 7:44 a.m. EST December 8, 2003

UPDATED: 7:06 p.m. EST December 8, 2003

FLANDREAU, S.D. -- A South Dakota jury has found Rep. Bill Janklow guilty of all charges against him in a manslaughter trial.

The jury foreman read "guilty" to each of the four counts: speeding, running a stop sign, reckless driving and second-degree manslaughter in the death of a motorcyclist.

The last is a felony and carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Janklow (pictured) sat next between his lawyers and appeared stunned as the verdict was read.

Jurors deliberated less than five hours. The judge excused the jury and plans to meet with the lawyers.

In closing arguments Monday at a Flandreau court house, a defense attorney said it makes no sense to accuse Janklow of recklessly speeding through a stop sign before the fatal crash because he suffered from a diabetic reaction shortly before the collision that killed motorcyclist Randy Scott, of Hardwick, Minn. Janklow suffered a broken hand and a head injury in the Aug. 16 crash.

But the prosecution countered that Janklow, 64, should be convicted even if he did have a diabetic reaction.

"The defendant's driving is like a deadly game of Russian roulette," a prosecutor said Monday. "On August 16, Randy Scott took the bullet."

The prosecution contends Janklow was speeding and that he lied to police at the scene of the crash. Janklow had told two troopers and a deputy that he was trying to avoid a white car when the accident occurred.

[basil]

Sad--but it's the right verdict, IMHO

[Dan Evans]

I think he should switch parties and become an honorary Kennedy.

[JoeFromCA]

As a long time motorcycle rider, I've been hoping this guy would get the max ever since he killed a man.

It's a relief that the jury saw through his lies. He'll get a chance to sit in a jail cell for at least several years; the guy he killed didn't even get that.

[BikerNYC]

The right verdict, IMHO. Even if he hadn't eaten and not taken his insulin, he should have still been found guilty, as that behavior would have amounted to reckless conduct that caused the accident.

[over3Owithabrain]

He deserves what he is getting and actually worse. The added justice in this is Daschle testified on his behalf and the jury dismissed it. Ha!

[Rockitz]

I thought he was a RAT?

[Rodney King]

Good. Not only is this justice, but it is good for the GOP. If he was acquitted he would have run for and lost his seat. Now the GOP has a chance to have a non a-hole killer run for the slot.

[Lazamataz]

Interesting. I thought congresspeople were above the law.

[jrushing]

No, No.
Only "D" congresspeople.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Only if they are enroute to or from congress. See Art. I, Sec. 6, of the U.S. Constitution.

[billhilly]

Right verdict? Sad? If this man had been a plumber rather than a former governor and congressman I sincerely doubt that "sad" would have been used in describing this verdict.

"Sad" is what we should feel for his victim.

[demlosers]

Janklow can now play with Jimmy Traficant for head rump ranger of the select prison committee.

[truth_seeker]

This arrogant a**hole has a prior hisory of reckless driving (which didn't get into evidence.

He is getting his just rewards for his actions. IMHO.

Republican or not. Behavior trumps political ideology.

[Finalapproach29er]

I know the civil atty. who's sueing Janklow. He's the best lawyer in Minnesota; bunch of bikers up here pitched in to hire him on behalf of the surviving family.

Many bikers up here in MSP.,Minnesota all the way to Sturgis, S.D. are putting up the money to crucify Janklow in court.

[Rockitz]

Here's the AP story with more history.

S.D. Rep. Janklow Guilty of Manslaughter

By CARSON WALKER, Associated Press Writer

FLANDREAU, S.D. - In a verdict likely to bring an abrupt end to a three-decade political career, a jury convicted Rep. Bill Janklow of manslaughter Monday for a collision that killed a motorcyclist, rejecting the congressman's claim that he was disoriented by a diabetic reaction.

The jury in Janklow's boyhood hometown deliberated for about five hours before returning its verdict.

Janklow appeared stunned as the verdict was read. He walked steadily out of the courtroom, got in a vehicle driven by his son and left the courthouse. He refused to respond to questions shouted by a horde of reporters.

Janklow, 64, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter, reckless driving, running a stop sign and speeding for the Aug. 16 crash that killed Randy Scott, 55, a farmer from Hardwick, Minn. Prosecutors said Janklow was traveling more than 70 mph in his white Cadillac when he crashed with Scott's Harley-Davidson.

Janklow could get up to 10 years in prison on the manslaughter charge at his sentencing on Jan. 20. The House ethics committee will investigate and could recommend a resolution reprimanding Janklow, censuring him or even expelling him, though expulsion is rare.

Jurors left the courthouse without talking to reporters. They were escorted out by the sheriff, who said the jurors don't want to talk to the media. Both prosecutor Bill Ellingson and defense attorney Ed Evans refused comment.

Janklow, a Republican, was elected to South Dakota's lone House seat last year following an extraordinary political career in which he served four years as state attorney general in the 1970s and 16 years as governor. During his two stints as governor, Janklow won over legions of voters in heavily conservative South Dakota with his tough-talking, maverick style.

His trial created a scenario that once would have seemed unthinkable in this rural state: the enormously powerful Janklow on trial for manslaughter in the farming community where he grew up.

The trial began Dec. 1 with a jury-selection process that revealed Janklow's widespread popularity in Flandreau, a town of about 2,000 people. Several jury candidates knew Janklow and his family, including one who shook hands with the former governor as he left the courtroom.

Once a panel was chosen, jurors witnessed several emotional images during five days of testimony, including Janklow in tears as he described his grief over the crash. A man who was riding motorcycles with Scott cried as he recalled finding the victim's mangled body in a soybean field. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, himself a pillar of South Dakota politics, also took the stand.

The defense argued that Janklow, a diabetic, was suffering the effects of low blood sugar at the time of the crash because he had not eaten for 18 hours. Medical experts told prosecutors it is unusual for anyone to go that long without food — and highly dangerous for a diabetic who takes insulin.

But deputy prosecutor Roger Ellyson called the diabetes defense "goofy," saying Janklow concocted the defense as an excuse for his reckless driving.

Ellyson called Janklow an "unbelievably awful and menacing" driver.

"The defendant's driving is like a deadly game of Russian roulette," Ellyson said in closing arguments. "On August 16, Randy Scott took the bullet."

"He couldn't say, 'I was driving so fast I couldn't stop.' Or he couldn't say, 'I always ignore these rural stop signs.' That would be admitting to manslaughter. He knows the trouble he's in," Ellyson said.

The defense said that Janklow took heart medication on the day of the crash that can mask the symptoms of a diabetic reaction. That is why Janklow did not feel his blood sugar drop before the accident, the defense contended.

Several witnesses said they did not see Janklow eat or drink anything that day, including Daschle, who called the congressman "a very truthful person."

Janklow has long been an unapologetic speeder, as witnessed during a 1999 speech to the Legislature.

"Bill Janklow speeds when he drives — shouldn't, but he does," Janklow said then. "When he gets the ticket he pays it, but if someone told me I was going to jail for two days for speeding, my driving habits would change."

In one notorious instance, two reporters were riding with Janklow when he made a 99-mph mad dash, through heavy smoke, down a mountain highway in the Black Hills to escape a raging forest fire in 2002. Janklow had tried to go faster, but the computer in his sport utility vehicle kept the engine from going past 99 mph.

Janklow received 12 speeding tickets from 1990 to October 1994. He was elected to a third term as governor a month later and never received another ticket in the state.

The jury was not allowed to hear about the tickets, but the prosecution was granted permission to present evidence of a close call at the same intersection where Scott died.

Jennifer Walters said a speeding white Cadillac ran the stop sign and missed their pickup by mere feet last December. She called 911 to report it and Moody County Deputy Sheriff Tony Aas said that about 10 minutes later he stopped the Cadillac. Janklow was the driver and he was doing 92 mph, though the officer locked his radar on at 86, he testified.

Walters said she did not pursue charges against Janklow because he was governor at the time. On the stand, Janklow denied running the stop sign.

Janklow also said he has wished "a thousand times" that he would have eaten on Aug. 16. He told the prosecutor he does speed when he drives and he has run stop signs but that he would not speed through a blind intersection on purpose.

[Map Kernow]

I see people on the road every damn day driving recklessly and over the speed limit. Every car commercial I see these days features some twerp driving the make of car in the ad like a friggin' maniac, to the accompaniment of thumping, wailing rock music. It's about time the example's set that if you drive like a fiend, you're going to wind up hurting someone or worse, and if you do, you have to pay. No exceptions!

[GOPcapitalist]

"The defendant's driving is like a deadly game of Russian roulette," a prosecutor said Monday. "On August 16, Randy Scott took the bullet."

I suppose that is what passes for legal arguments these days.

[Dan Evans]

I thought he was a RAT?

Nope. Even Republicans can go bad. But notice that Dachle testified for him? Their kind of guy.

[clamboat]

It's about time the example's set that if you drive like a fiend, you're going to wind up hurting someone or worse, and if you do, you have to pay. No exceptions!

Well, unless you are an FBI agent - then state patrol will even going so far as to blame the two dead victims for causing the crash, instead of the drunk FBI agent.

Farrall gets 90 days in wrong-way case

ex-FBI agent David Farrall crashed with Lauderhill brothers Maurice Williams, 23, and Craig Chambers, 19, on Nov. 23, 1999, near I-95's Atlantic Boulevard exit. The two brothers, who had come from choir practice, died in the mangled wreckage. Farrall, who had been drinking and watching Monday Night Football, survived.

The case drew enormous community attention because the brothers had initially been blamed for the crash before Florida Highway Patrol reversed its findings. Protesters claimed bias against young black men in favor of a white law enforcement officer.