Je suis attristé, attristé profondément.
Posted on 03/22/2003 3:43:09 AM PST by Liz
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota governors have granted a number of pardons over the past two decades, but the state is keeping the names secret under a 1983 law designed to give people a fresh start.
Among the few known beneficiaries: American Indian activist Russell Means, convicted in a 1974 courthouse riot, and a former Cabinet member who pleaded guilty to driving drunk.
Over the past few months, as the cases have come to light, the secrecy provision has been fodder for talk shows, a bill in the Legislature to modify it and a lawsuit by three people who were pardoned but don't want their names released.
Under the law, once a pardon is granted, every document from arrest to conviction is automatically sealed. The state won't release the number of pardons because of the lawsuit.
The two recently reported pardons came from Bill Janklow, who spent two eight-year stretches in the governor's mansion before leaving for Congress in January. The state had two other governors while Janklow was out of office, from 1987 to 1995.
Janklow signed the law himself during his first stint in the office, though he said last month that he didn't know about the secrecy provision.
Mark Meierhenry, who was attorney general when it was adopted, said it was meant to let people get their lives back after they had atoned for their mistakes.
The current attorney general has questioned whether the government has taken the seals too far, and the state prosecutors association has objected as well, saying that, at the least, victims need to know about pending pardons so they can present facts to the governor.
News organizations argue that such secrecy undermines a fundamental tenet of open government.
Such a provision is rare. Most states don't seal pardons at all, and if they do, the person being pardoned usually has to request it, said Gail Hughes, executive secretary of the Association of Paroling Authorities International.
"There are those cases that need public scrutiny because they are a little shady, and I don't know if these are or not. But especially when the record is sealed, it raises the level of suspicion a little higher," Hughes said.
Spurred by the uproar, state lawmakers passed a bill that would allow the names to remain sealed for only five years. The new governor, Republican Mike Rounds, said he hasn't decided if he'll sign it.
Janklow, 63, defends the merits of his pardons and says he is fine with lawmakers modifying the seals.
"If they want to make them public, I don't care," said Janklow, who is known for his take-charge, get-the-job-done style.
Janklow says he doesn't know how many pardons he issued. He simply considered them as they came across his desk, he says.
One example, he said, was a person who couldn't go to Canada because of a drunken driving conviction.
Few knew about the sealed pardons until early January. Means, who ran for a tribal presidency last fall, said Janklow had pardoned him for a felony from a courthouse riot in Sioux Falls.
The pardon allowed Means, an old friend of Janklow's, to pursue a career in politics.
"It seals my records, so I don't even have to admit I have ever been in prison or committed a felony," he said at the time.
Janklow said the decision to grant the pardon wasn't tough.
"People who did a lot more than he did have had their records cleared over the years," he said.
Another high-profile pardon became public in February after a reporter couldn't get the criminal record of Ron Wheeler, a longtime Janklow friend and former state transportation head, because it was sealed.
In a case that made news at the time, Wheeler was arrested in December 2001 and later pleaded guilty to drunken driving. His driver's license was suspended for a month, and he was fined $475.
Secretary of State Chris Nelson said in January that the records on pardoned cases were sealed because of the 1983 law. But a ruling by Attorney General Larry Long disagreed, saying the law didn't protect pardons that the governor granted on his own, without consulting the parole board. Long said those pardons should become public.
Three people listed as John Doe, John Doe No. 2 and Jane Doe went to court to object, saying Janklow issued their pardons with the understanding that they would remain secret. They want the judge to seal their cases permanently.
The Associated Press and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, arguing that the public has a right to know when pardons are granted. Fourteen other state and national news organizations have asked to weigh in as well.
Je suis attristé, attristé profondément.
What fun to pin some of this on little Tommy.
Did he write letters of recommendation?
Were any of those pardoned his pals? Stay tuned.
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