Janklow Convicted of All Counts in Traffic Death
Monday, December 08, 2003
FLANDREAU, S.D. — Rep. Bill Janklow (search) on Monday announced he would resign from the House after a jury convicted him of all charges in the traffic death of a motorcyclist.
Janklow also faces a possible jail term for the charge of second-degree manslaughter.
"I wish to inform you that because of present circumstances, I will be unable to perform the duties incumbent on me in representing the people of South Dakota as their U.S. representative," Janklow wrote in a letter that he said was to be sent to House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Tuesday.
"Therefore I wish to inform you that I will resign from the House of Representatives, effective January 20, 2004."
A fixture in South Dakota politics for 30 years, Janklow's resignation coincides with the day he will be sentenced.
• Raw Data: South Dakota v. Janklow (pdf)
The congressman seemed stunned when the verdict was read after a five-hour deliberation Monday evening. He walked out of the courtroom, got in a vehicle driven by his son and left the courthouse without uttering a word to a horde of reporters.
Janklow had argued that a diabetic reaction was responsible for the fatal crash — a defense his hometown jury did not buy.
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 (search), 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.
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.
A special election will be held during South Dakota's June 1 primary to fill the remainder of Janklow's term.
Democrat Stephanie Herseth, who lost to Janklow in 2002, has said she intends to run for the House again. Republican John Thune, who formerly held the seat, has not indicated whether he will run for anything in 2004. He has been mentioned as a possible challenger to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, but some Republicans want Thune to run for Janklow's seat instead because they believe he stands a better chance against Herseth.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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