Public Defense in South Dakota by Rep. Will Mortenson (R-Fort Pierre). January 21, 2024.
“You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.” These words, contained in the now-famous Miranda rights, reflect every American’s right to a speedy and fair trial as found in the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The right to an attorney, even if you cannot afford one, is a bedrock constitutional principle that promotes equal justice under our laws.
In the past year, Chief Justice Steven Jensen spearheaded an effort to improve the quality of public defense, thus ensuring we live up to our constitutional obligation to our citizens in South Dakota. The Chief Justice assembled a task force including prosecutors, judges, private attorneys, public defenders, county commissioners, the Dean of the USD Law School, and two legislators: Sen. Jim Mehlhaff (R-Pierre) and me. We met all summer, learning about our public defense system and how it compares to public defense provided in our sister states.
Today, South Dakota requires counties to foot the bill for virtually all public defense costs. We are one of only two states that places this full burden on counties. Collectively, the counties spend about $22 million on public defense each year, including a little over $2 million on appellate and habeas corpus claims (plain English: claims of wrongful imprisonment). While the prosecutors have a state Attorney General’s office to handle appeals, coordinate efforts, and to provide prosecutorial support, there is no such entity for public defenders to lean on. We found a lot of areas that could use improvement.
The task force recommended a plan that Governor Kristi Noem has now endorsed to create a state public defender office to handle criminal appeals, habeas corpus claims, and abuse and neglect appeals. The state public defender would also lead public defense statewide, ensuring local defense attorneys have adequate training and support. The office would be small – a Chief Public Defender, a couple other attorneys, and two staff members. It would take all $2+ Million in cost off the counties, and instead would fund this office with about $1.4 Million in state general funds. This would be a cost savings to the county and an efficiency for the taxpayers. The state public defender office would help to guarantee that our citizens are granted their Sixth Amendment right to an attorney, and an effective one at that.
The right to have the state provide you with public defense is very limited. Under our system (including if this proposal is adopted), a citizen accused of a crime is provided a court-appointed attorney if they cannot afford one at the time of arrest. The citizen is then on the hook for paying back their court-appointed attorney fees to the county. The cost to the county comes when the defendant absolutely can’t pay, despite collection efforts. The provision of legal defense is, thus, targeted to our poorest citizens. Those folks are among the most downtrodden among us, often saddled with addiction and debt. They don’t have lobbyists and their voices often aren’t heard in the Capitol. Yet – their constitutional rights must be protected, just like all other citizens. I’m glad we are working to protect and advance the constitutional rights of all South Dakotans this year.
Trust the Voters by Rep. Will Mortenson (R – Fort Pierre). January 16, 2024.
I am proud of the work our state legislature did last year to ensure our elections are secure and to give voters confidence that their votes are counted quickly and accurately. We should take pride in our election processes in South Dakota. They are among the very best in the country, led by competent and trustworthy local officials who are deserving of our thanks.
Despite our areas of success, South Dakota’s laws remain deficient in one particular area: nominating statewide officeholders. Our process shuts out the voters. This year, I’m hopeful we put voters first and make our nomination process more responsive to the people of South Dakota.
Currently, most statewide officeholders are nominated at a partisan convention, rather than by the voters in a primary election. While your members of Congress, the Governor, county officials, and state legislators are all nominated in primary elections where you get to vote, the Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Commissioner of School and Public Lands, and Public Utilities Commissioners are all chosen by a few hundred party insiders at a state convention.
In my party, the GOP, we’ve had some party in-fighting. Factions have arisen nationally that have infected our party locally. The convention process feeds the in-fighting. It turns our convention from an event for party unity and supporting our candidates into a forum for knife fighting by political insiders. It’s bad for the party and bad for our state.
The good news is: we’ve got a ready-made solution. We should respect the voters and leave this decision to them. The time for party bosses and party insiders to determine who is nominated should end. The primary election voters nominate candidates for positions large and small. Any insinuation that the voters aren’t qualified or knowledgeable enough to make these decisions are disrespectful and flat-out wrong.
The voters should decide who should be nominated from each party for all positions. Our current system gives all the authority to party insiders and politicians who vote at convention. Sometimes those folks represent and reflect the wishes of the voters. Oftentimes, they do not. The time has come to return power to the voters instead of the party bosses. Our state will be better for it.
South Dakota’s election system is, in many ways, a model for the nation. We should be proud of it. In the coming year, we have a chance to take care of our biggest deficiency. I hope we seize the opportunity and continue to put voters first in South Dakota.
Prisons: An Unwanted Need, by Rep. Will Mortenson (R – Fort Pierre). January 9, 2024.
Going to prison is an unimaginable fate for most of us. Prisons are among the most unpleasant places in our world. They deprive inmates of virtually all freedoms. They are incredibly costly – requiring the state to fund lodging, security, meals, and medical care for inmates. We should not send people to prison lightly – it means that person cannot work, cannot take care of their kids, cannot see their friends, and cannot do, say, or dress how they wish. Prison should not be used for retribution and evidence is well-established that longer sentences don’t deter crime. Prison should be reserved only for those who need to be separated from society to protect law abiding citizens from harm.
I believe in law and order. Our laws should be aimed at making the public safer. Crime is deterred by strong, consistent law enforcement presence. That is – people decide whether or not to commit a crime based on their likelihood of getting caught, not whether they’ll go to prison for 15 years or 20. I greatly prefer to focus our criminal justice resources on police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and highway patrolmen. Longer prison sentences don’t make us safer. Law enforcement makes us safer.
Still, prisons are necessary. There are some folks who would harm our society unless they are incarcerated. We need prisons to protect the public.
While prisons are a need, they are an unwanted need. No legislator wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars building new prisons. No neighbor of the new prison location wants the prison in their neighborhood. Prisons are a prime example of a need, and not a want.
For the third year in a row, the Legislature will be allocating funds to construct an additional women’s prison in Rapid City and a replacement men’s prison near Sioux Falls. The new facilities will be safer for guards and inmates, include additional opportunities for treatment and rehabilitation, and should be more efficient in several respects. Once constructed, the new prisons will house hundreds of additional inmates. Given that our state is growing (around 10% from 2010 to 2020, and still rising) and the Legislature can’t help but create new crimes and increase the length of prison sentences each year, we need additional capacity.
Opposition to building the new men’s prison has sprung up in Lincoln County. I understand the concern. Folks in Pierre will remember when the prison was being cited here. Similar concerns were raised and similar opposition was voiced. The same can be said for prior construction of correction facilities, where lawsuits were filed to try to block them. In each case, the facilities were built. Decades later, the concerns are realized to be overblown. Modern correction facilities are secure, and I have confidence that the Department of Corrections are going to build proper facilities that do not pose a significant risk to the folks in that county.
I will be a strong, vocal supporter of funding construction of the new prison facilities in our state. We have one-time funds available and should avoid taking on state debt (bonds) that would pose an obligation for decades to come and cost hundreds of millions in interest costs. Delaying the projects would likewise cost tens of millions of dollars. These prisons are not a want. Legislators don’t want to have to spend the money. Neighbors don’t want them sited. But the prisons are a need. They fulfill a core obligation of state government, and we need to get them built.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
