S.D.: Specialty courts continue saving money and lives

KCCR News: "An option that helps some people avoid prison time and saves the state money appears to be making progress."

University of South Dakota renames law school after receiving $12.5M donation

National Jurist: "South Dakota’s only law school is getting a new name. The University of South Dakota will now be known as USD Knudson School of Law after the school received $12.5 million."

S.D. justices take company’s side in a dispute with state’s underground storage tanks program

KELO News: "A circuit judge in a financial case correctly ruled against state government’s program for cleaning up leaks from underground storage tanks, the South Dakota Supreme Court said."

SD legislators direct justices to take another look at parenting time

KELO News: "The South Dakota Supreme Court is considering whether to start a state commission on parenting-time guidelines."

Former South Dakota Attorney General Meierhenry dies

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "Mark Meierhenry, a former South Dakota attorney general and the patriarch of an influential legal family, died early Wednesday. He was 75."

S.D.: Excellence in law and friendship

KELO News: "Two longtime figures in the South Dakota law community are receiving a prestigious honor. South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson and the late Justice Steven Zinter will both be the recipients of this year’s McKusick Award."

Jensen picked to lead South Dakota supremes

Pierre Capital Journal: "Upon the planned retirement of South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson in January, Justice Steven Jensen will take the role of leading the state's highest court, officials announced on Tuesday."

USD law school fell below bar-exam threshold

KELO News: "South Dakota’s only law school was one of 10 nationwide that didn’t meet a key standard, set by a council of the American Bar Association, that 75 percent of an institution’s law graduates pass a bar exam within two years."

S.D.: COVID-19 pandemic bogs down court system

Black Hills Pioneer: "Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wheels of justice continue to turn in Lawrence County. They’re just going a bit slower than usual."

USD Law School among first to be back with face-to-face education this fall

KELO News: "The South Dakota Board of Regents has decided that universities will resume in-person classes at the start of the fall term."

Billionaires stashing funds in South Dakota trusts

Pierre Capital Journal: "South Dakota’s unusual stature as a leader nationwide in chartering trusts has been in the national headlines in recent weeks because of a new turn in a Texas billionaire’s messy divorce."

S.D.: Juvenile justice reform movement aided by detention decline during crisis

Public News Service: "A downward trend in juvenile-detention populations during the pandemic is renewing hopes among reform advocates. The numbers are reflected in a national survey that reached out to agencies in 30 states."

SD Supreme Court oral arguments via Zoom

Pierre Capital Journal: "Traditionally, the South Dakota Supreme Court holds oral arguments - open to the public - either at its courtroom in the State Capitol, at the University of South Dakota School of Law or another public institution like a college."

State panel begins steps in nominating a new justice for the South Dakota Supreme Court

KELO News: "State law requires that South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson must retire no later than January 5, 2021."

All 62 courthouses in South Dakota remain operational

KELO News: "While state, county, and city government offices across South Dakota have closed and moved to operating online or by phone, the court system in the state is still up and running."

S.D. courts delay trials, excuse no-shows, reduce jail population

Brookings Register: "South Dakota courts are delaying trials, excusing no-shows, attempting to reduce jail populations and taking other measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus."

Most fed. court business in S.D. delayed

News Center 1: "Coronavirus concerns are shutting down almost all federal court business in South Dakota."

SD courts delay trials, excuse no-shows, reduce jail population for coronavirus

Rapid City Journal: "South Dakota courts are delaying trials, excusing no-shows, attempting to reduce jail populations and taking other measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus."

USD law professor edits journal focused on agriculture policy

Yankton Press and Dakotan: "Thomas Horton, a professor of law and the Heidepriem Trial Advocacy Fellow at the University of South Dakota School of Law, served as guest editor of the winter issue of Competition Policy International’s journal Antitrust Chronicle."

S.D. Supreme Court gives judges authority to modify operations

U.S. News: "The South Dakota Supreme Court has issued an order declaring a judicial emergency because of the new coronavirus."

'It's been a good run': SD chief justice reflects on career

Mitchell Daily Republic: "David Gilbertson has been the South Dakota Supreme Court's chief justice for just shy of two decades, longer than anyone in the state's history. During that time, he told The Daily Republic in Pierre recently, nearly every major issue facing the state's judicial system has changed."

South Dakota courts want more $ to treat more, hire more officers and pay judges more

KELO News: "The state Unified Judicial System needs more than what the governor has requested to bring its budget into line with growing demands that already strain circuit courts, two South Dakota Supreme Court members told state lawmakers Wednesday."

S.D.: Daugaard reflects on career at forum

Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan: "He grew up near Dell Rapids, but former Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he learned so much more about South Dakota during his time in public office."

State courts plan to use mental telehealth services in rural parts of South Dakota

KELO News: "State government’s courts want the Legislature’s approval to look at how mental telehealth services could work in some of South Dakota’s rural counties."

S.D.: Launch of website to access court records from any computer is delayed

Rapid City Journal: "The launch of a website that will let South Dakotans view public court records from any computer has been delayed for more than a year due to privacy concerns."

South Dakota sees increase in juvenile diversion program success

Mitchell Daily Republic: "More at-risk South Dakota youth successfully completed diversion programs in 2019 than in any other year since juvenile justice reforms went into effect, according to a report issued last week."

Longest-serving South Dakota Chief Justice bids farewell

U.S. News: "South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson delivered his final State of the Judiciary address in Pierre on Wednesday, using the speech to push for a justice system that helps people address drug addiction and stay out of prison."

Attorney general tries once more to reduce use of presumptive probation in South Dakota courts

KELO News: "Last year, South Dakota’s freshly elected attorney general wasn’t able to convince enough members of the Legislature to overturn the state law that limits who gets sent to state prisons."

Federal judge blocks South Dakota petition law

Courthouse News Service: "A federal judge struck down as unconstitutional a South Dakota law imposing burdensome regulations that would have made it much harder for the average citizen to get an initiative on the ballot."

S.D.: Chief Justice to deliver his final State of the Judiciary message

Pierre Capital Journal: "Chief Justice David Gilbertson, of the South Dakota Supreme Court, will deliver his State of the Judiciary message to a joint session of the South Dakota Legislature on January 15."

South Dakota courtrooms adjust to long holiday

KELO News: "South Dakota state workers will have both this Monday and Tuesday off. That means courthouses across the state will be closed from 5 p.m. Friday all the way through Christmas Day."

Low-income South Dakotans can seek legal help on many issues through new website

KELO News: "A new online tool that links lower-income South Dakotans and lawyers seems to be much faster than the old way, where legal-aid staff directly took people’s initial information."

More than half of women in South Dakota prisons have drug convictions

KELO News: "Data from the state shows that drug convictions are the biggest reason the state’s female prison population is growing."

Big Eagle, former Pierre victim advocate, given national award by U.S. attorney general

Pierre Capital Journal: "Marlys Big Eagle, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe at Fort Thompson, South Dakota, and former executive director of Missouri Shores Domestic Violence Center in Pierre, was recognized last month in Washington by U.S. Attorney General William Barr for her work as federal victim witness coordinator in South Dakota."

South Dakota tribe wants 1863 removal law changed

MPR News: "A South Dakota tribe is asking for the state's help to change an 1863 federal law that technically keeps them from owning land in Minnesota."

S.D. federal district court finds way to save on interpreters

KELO News: "The Federal District Court for the District of South Dakota says it has saved nearly $700,000 in interpreting fees through a telephone service."

South Dakota initiative successfully reduces juvenile detention

Public News Service: "In the past six years, the youth detention population in South Dakota has decreased significantly and the number of juveniles committed to the Department of Corrections has decreased by 65 percent. The reduction is a result of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, adopted in 2011."

S.D.: Teen Court a real-life, consequential learning program

Pierre Capital Journal: "Central Teen Court, established in 2002, is the adult-court-approved juvenile diversion program for the Sixth Judicial Circuit. Members of Teen Court — attorneys, jury, bailiff and clerk — are trained teen volunteers and returning defendants."

U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear Oglala, Rosebud case against South Dakota officials

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday a case alleging that South Dakota officials were violating the Indian Child Welfare Act."

South Dakota jails more people per capita than any other state, report shows

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "South Dakota jails more people per capita than any other state in the country, according to a national nonprofit that researches incarceration. Half of those arrests are drug or alcohol-related."

Many crime victims in S.D. not being paid restitution they are owed

KELO News: "In South Dakota, people convicted of crimes owe their victims millions of dollars in court-ordered restitution, but most of that debt is going unpaid and there is little remedy available for those harmed to get their money."

South Dakota anti-riot law blocked by federal judge

Courthouse News Service: "A federal judge in South Dakota Wednesday blocked provisions of a new anti-rioting law signed by Gov. Kristi Noem earlier this year that aims to quash protests against the Keystone XL pipeline."

Chief Justice Gilbertson provides an inside look at South Dakota’s Supreme Court

KELO News: "Chief Justice David Gilbertson answered questions from KELOLAND Capitol News Bureau reporter Bob Mercer in Pierre about how the South Dakota Supreme Court decides to hear cases and the related topic of the roles that law clerks play in the court’s processes."

Nearly 40 years after South Dakota changed sentencing law, dozens are serving 100 years or more for first-degree manslaughter

Brainerd Dispatch: "Nearly 25 years ago, Joaquin Ramos entered the South Dakota State Penitentiary to begin a life sentence for first-degree manslaughter, angry about the circumstances that led him there."

S.D. legislators urge state Supreme Court to allow concealed handguns in chambers

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "South Dakota Supreme Court justices are weighing a ban on concealed handguns in the Court's Capitol space for their own protection, but some legislators are arguing that's the reason they passed a law allowing it."

U.S. Attorney says South Dakota prosecutions are up

KOTA News: "The number of cases being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Dakota is up for the second straight year. The office's annual report for 2018 is out and prosecutors say they've filed cases against 914 defendants in the South Dakota district last year, a 3.6 percent increase from 2017."

South Dakotans soon able to access court records from any computer

Brookings Register: "The South Dakota Unified Judicial System is piloting a program that will eventually allow the public access to court records from any computer. The public can now only view court records on computers at state courthouses during work hours from Monday to Friday."

SD justices say injured driver doesn't owe insurance company

KELO News: "State Farm can't recover $5,000 from motorist LeRoy James Jr. it paid to him for medical expenses, the South Dakota Supreme Court said in a decision released Thursday. Jones was rear-ended on July 16, 2016, on SD 16 near Rapid City by another driver, Melissa Rivers."

South Dakota project fights financial crimes against tribes

Associated Press: "A South Dakota project has uncovered dozens of people and organizations that collectively stole millions of dollars from nine Native American reservations, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Dakota."

Noem nominee sworn onto the South Dakota Supreme Court

Dickinson Press: "Things have come full-circle for South Dakota's newest Supreme Court Justice Patricia DeVaney. On Thursday, May 23, DeVaney took her oath of office in the state's Capitol Rotunda in Pierre, steps away from her first office as a young lawyer with the Attorney General's Office."

S.D.: Ex-convict finds redemption after becoming mayor

U.S. News: " It's no secret that Francis 'Butch' Oseby has a history. But as the newly elected mayor of this town of 1,300 located just north of Sioux Falls, the 70-year-old wants to focus on the future."

Drug Court - treating the addiction for 30 years

Huron Plainsman: "In 1989, in an effort to fight a rising tide of drug arrests, the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida took a bold step toward both curbing drug abuse and addressing the overcrowding of prisons by incorporating treatment within the structure of its court system."

Judge curbs South Dakota political contribution law

Courthouse News Service: "A federal judge found unconstitutional Thursday a ballot measure passed by South Dakota voters last year that bans out-of-state contributions to ballot question committees."

S.D.: Federal judge garners piece of state history

Moody County Enterprise: "Flandreau native Karen Schreier has the distinction of being the first female judge appointed by a president to serve in South Dakota. After nearly 20 years working in that spot as a U.S. District Judge for the District of South Dakota, she retains the distinction of being the only one."

SD Supreme Court takes up case lawyer says could be 'absolute destruction' of tribal sovereign immunity

Rapid City Journal: "A former school principal is alleging he was wrongfully terminated from his job in a South Dakota Supreme Court case that one lawyer said could be an 'absolute destruction' of tribal nations' sovereign immunity."

Company must pay housing taxes on property leased from US government, South Dakota justices rule

KELO News: "The private corporation that manages a housing development for personnel at Ellsworth Air Force Base owed property taxes to Meade County starting in 2011, even though the U.S. government wasn't taxed on the 838 units during the previous 20 years before the company took control of the lease, the South Dakota Supreme Court said in a decision released Thursday."

SD Supreme Court to decide country musician, others' liability for unpaid debts to investors

Dickinson Press: "In the latest development of a Chinese investing group's court battle for repayment, the South Dakota Supreme Court is set to decide whether individual loan guarantors -- including country musician Kenneth 'Big Kenny' Alphin -- are personally liable for over $32.5 million in unpaid loans."

S.D.: Supreme Court nixes transfer of child abuse case to tribe

U.S. News: "The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled a judge erred when he transferred a child abuse and neglect case from state court to tribal court. The high court says the judge should have considered testimony from the child's doctor in making the transfer."

SD Supreme Court upholds hog barn insurance case decision

Mitchell Daily Republic: "The South Dakota Supreme Court issued an opinion last week upholding a Douglas County court's decision not to require an insurance company to pay to represent a man in a separate case involving a hog barn."

SD Supreme Court says insurance provider must pay in death of Rapid City moped driver

KELO News: "The South Dakota Supreme Court has issued a decision in the death of a moped driver that could affect state laws on underinsured motorists coverage."

South Dakota justices rule against woman suing over traffic crash

KELO News: "A woman failed to meet the time limit set in state law for changing the target of her personal-injury lawsuit that resulted from a 2013 traffic crash, the South Dakota Supreme Court said in a decision publicly released Thursday."

New justice appointed to South Dakota Supreme Court

KELO News: "South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has appointed a new Supreme Court Justice. The appointment of Patricia Jean DeVaney fills the open vacancy in the 3rd Supreme Court District from the death of Justice Steven Zinter."

S.D.: Incoming law school dean excited for position, engaging with students

USD Volante: "Neil Fulton, a Miller, S.D. native, was named as the USD School of Law Dean last month. Fulton will start his position in June. Fulton is a federal public defender, South Dakota Bar Examiner and former Chief of Staff to then Gov. Michael Rounds."

South Dakota's 2018 crime statistics released

KSFY News: "The State of South Dakota has released its annual crime report. The report shows a 28 percent decrease in sex offenses and a 32 percent decrease in thefts compared to 2017. The state has still seen an overall increase of 49 percent in drug offenses over the past six years."

South Dakota Supreme Court says man convicted of murder doesn't need new jury trial

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "A Sioux Falls man appealing multiple aspects of his 2016 jury trial that landed him a second-degree murder conviction and life in prison won't be getting a new trial, the South Dakota Supreme Court said this week."

USD law school's new dean talks traditions, future

KELO News: "It's the only law school in South Dakota, and now it has a new leader. The University of South Dakota Law School has named Neil Fulton as the new dean. Fulton is a Yale graduate and studied law at the University of Minnesota. He says his long history in South Dakota positions him to help build future leaders in the state. "

Convicted murderer to get new trial in South Dakota

Mitchell Daily Republic: "In an opinion released Friday, March 15, the South Dakota Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Watertown defense attorney Scott Bratland’s contention that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to properly instruct a Grant County jury on what charge Bratland’s client, Michael Swan, should have faced."

South Dakota Supreme Court rules against rapist imprisoned In Iowa

KELO News: "he South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld the 40-year sentence in the state penitentiary for a rapist who was already doing 30 years in Iowa. Shaylan Yeager had challenged the longer South Dakota sentence, claiming it was excessive and the judge abused his discretion."

S.D.: Presumptive probation remains controversial six years after passage

Mitchell Daily Republic: "Presumptive probation was one of many changes made to the state's criminal justice system as part of Senate Bill 70, also known as the Public Safety Improvement Act, which was passed in 2013."

SD high court rules against Rapid City woman in same-sex benefits case

Rapid City Journal/AP: "South Dakota's Supreme Court ruled this week against a retired police official seeking state retirement system survivor benefits after her wife, a former police captain, died of cancer."

S.D.: Lawyers giving free legal advice to veterans this week

KSFY News: "The State Bar of South Dakota and the USD School of Law are teaming up this week to host a two-day legal clinic for veterans. The event will be held at the American Legion in Watertown on Thursday and at the Sioux Falls Disabled American Veterans on Friday."

U.S.: Supreme Court sets date in Argus Leader case

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "The U.S. Supreme Court has set a date to hear a case that could determine whether taxpayer payments to businesses can be considered confidential information."