Janklow resigns upon manslaughter conviction

FROM THE ARCHIVE

URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/002892.asp

Tuesday, December 9, 2003

Rep. Bill Janklow (R) resigned from the U.S. Congress on Monday, shortly after a jury in his home state of South Dakota found him guilty for manslaughter.

In a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Janklow, 64, said he was "unable to perform the duties incumbent upon me in representing the people of South Dakota as their U.S. representative." "Therefore, I wish to inform you that I will resign from the House of Representatives effective Jan. 20, 2004," he wrote. [Copy of Letter]

The letter followed a unanimous verdict from a Moody County jury that found him guilty for a fatal August 16 car accident that left motorcyclist Randy Scott, 55, dead. Janklow was convicted of second-degree manslaughter, a felony, and three misdemeanors: reckless driving, running a stop sign and speeding.

The decision was rendered just 4 1/2 hours after the 12-member jury heard closing arguments in a six-day trial that attracted nationwide media attention. Defense lawyers claimed Janklow, a diabetic, was suffering from low blood sugar levels that lowered his senses the day of the accident.

But jurors clearly rejected the so-called "diabetes defense." On the stand this past Saturday, Janklow admitted it was dangerous for him to drive a vehicle under his conditions -- he had not eaten for nearly 18 hours before running a stop sign and hitting Scott, killing the victim on the scene.

In a written statement, the Scott family said they will "continue the difficult process of coming to terms with Randy's death." According to The Sioux Falls Argus Leader, a family member said a civil lawsuit against Janklow is possible.

The conviction marks a long and storied career for one of the state's most prominent and outspoken politicians. After getting his start as a legal aid lawyer on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, Janklow served as the state's attorney general and served four terms as the state's governor, the longest in history.

Throughout that time, he engendered strong and often negative sentiments among the state's Dakota, Lakota and Nakota people. He was disbarred from the Rosebud Tribal Court for allegations, still unresolved, that he raped Jancita Eagle Deer when she was 15. She was hit and killed by a car in April 1975, several months after making the charges against Janklow, who had just been elected attorney general.

As the state's top law enforcer, Janklow frequently lashed out against the American Indian Movement (AIM), whom he accused of "lawlessness." He presided over the mid-1970s "Reign of Terror" on the Pine Ridge Reservation, during which dozens of Indians died under heavy state and federal police presence.

The FBI denies the deaths were mysterious although federal authorities only recently laid charges against two Indians for the long-unsolved murder of AIM activist Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash at Pine Ridge. Around the same time, activist Leonard Peltier was convicted of murdering two FBI agents, also at Pine Ridge.

After moving to the state capitol, Janklow continue to brush up against Indian people. When the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 2000 released a report documenting disparate treatment in the justice system, he dismissed it outright as "garbage."

But just before he left office to join Congress, researchers hired by the state confirmed -- through statistics and other information -- that Indians were more likely than whites to be denied the same rights during arrest, trial and incarceration. Further studies are pending.

Shortly before leaving office, Janklow also challenged the "illegal jurisdiction" of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He refused to pay a tribal tax or submit to Indian preference for federally-funded highway work occurring within the reservation. The U.S. Department of Transportation backed the tribe's authority in the case, but did not order the state to pay the taxes. A federal judge dismissed the suit in September.

At his first press conference since the accident, Janklow talked about his history with Indian people. "I believe in this system," he told reporters on September 22. "When I take a case for free and don't charge a client, I believe it's because they have a right to be heard."

"Years and years ago," he continued, "I knew the leaders of the American Indian Movement very well, very well. Many of them were people that had been friends of mine. I was outraged when this courthouse was wrecked in this town [Sioux Falls] and the courthouse in Custer was wrecked and they tried to set it on fire."

"A Democrat governor came to me and asked me to be a special prosecutor on that case -- and a Democratic attorney general -- because of my past relationship in having worked with Native Americans in legal aid," he said "I took the cases [47 total] to prosecute because I felt the system was going to work. The courthouse is where everybody gets justice -- red, yellow, black, white, Protestant, Catholic, Jew and nothing."

"So I, but I, I understand what they were going through," he said.

The state's sole U.S. House of Representatives seat will be subject to a special election within three months. Democrat Stephanie Herseth, who lost to Janklow in 2002 by a narrow vote, intends to run.

About 9.5 percent of the state's population is Indian. In the November 2002 U.S. Senate election, Indian voters help Tim Johnson, a Democrat, win re-election.

Janklow will face sentencing January 20, 2004. He faces up to 10 years in jail for the felony, plus one more for the misdemeanors. He could be fined up to $10,000.

Relevant Links:
Janklow/Scott Accident coverage, Sioux Falls Argus Leader - http://www.argusleader.com/specialsections/2003/janklowaccident
Janklow Trial coverage, Sioux Falls Argus Leader - http://www.argusleader.com/janklowtrial
Janklow Accident/Trial coverage, Rapid City Journal - http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/janklow
Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Coalition - http://www.dlncoalition.org/home.htm
Rep. Bill Janklow - http://www.house.gov/janklow