Capital punishment in South Dakota - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Current development

The South Dakota State Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of South Dakota. It is a bicameral legislative body, consisting of the South Dakota Senate, which has 35 members, and the South Dakota House of Representatives, which has 70 members...

passed a new death penalty statute, which went to effect due to signature of Governor

Governor of South Dakota

The Governor of South Dakota is the head of the executive branch of the government of South Dakota. They are elected to a four year term on even years when there is no Presidential election. The current governor is Dennis Daugaard, a Republican elected in 2010....

Bill Janklow

William John "Bill" Janklow served as the 25th Attorney General of South Dakota, before being elected as South Dakota's 27th and 30th Governor, as well as to the United States House of Representatives where he served for a little more than a year. A Republican, Janklow's career has continued as a...

(first act he signed in office) on January 1, 1979.

Crimes punishable by death

First-degree murder with 1 of 10 aggravating circumstances is the only capital crime in South Dakota. In 2006 possible death sentence for aggravated kidnapping was eliminated.

Sentencing, death row, and clemency

Death sentence is to be determined by jury

Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...

and Life Without Parole is an option.

As in any other state, people who are under 18 at the time of commission of the capital crime or mentally retarded are constitutionally precluded from being executed.

Currently four men are awaiting execution on death row

Death row

Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...

(as of October 27, 2011), located in Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Sioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...

.

Governor may grant commutation of death sentence with a non-binding recommendation from the Board. no commutation was granted.

Individual executed by the State of South Dakota since 1976

Only one person was executed (voluntary) by the State of South Dakota in modern post-Furman

Furman v. Georgia

Furman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...

period. The death sentence was administered by lethal injection.

Executed person	Date of execution	Crime	Victim	Under Governor
Elijah Page	July 11, 2007	First Degree Murder	Chester Allan Poage	Mike Rounds Mike Rounds Marion Michael "Mike" Rounds is an American politician. Rounds served as the 31st Governor of South Dakota. Rounds was first inaugurated on January 7, 2003, having been elected on November 5, 2002, and was re-elected on November 7, 2006...

History

South Dakota executed 15 men between 1877 and 1947. The first was Jack McCall

Jack McCall

John "Jack" McCall , known by the nickname "Crooked Nose Jack or Broken Nose Jack, was the killer of James "Wild Bill" Hickok, shooting him from behind, an act that among admirers of Hickok and students of Hickok's history has given rise to the phrase "the coward Jack McCall."-...

, killer of Wild Bill Hickok

Wild Bill Hickok

James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...

. 4 of these execution were prior to Statehood

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

, 11 since.

Abolition, reintroduction and methods of executions

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

was the only method used until 1913, when death penalty was temporary abolished in 1915.

The death penalty was, however, reinstated in 1933 and electric chair

Electric chair

Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...

became sole method. Only one person was electrocuted in South Dakota (George Sitts

George Sitts

George Sitts was executed at the age of 33 by the U.S. state of South Dakota for the murder of state Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Tom Matthews, who was attempting to arrest Sitts on a fugitive warrant from Minnesota.He was the only person to die in South Dakota's electric...

, 1947) and this was the last execution until Page. South Dakota was second-to-last state to use electrocution.

There were speculations that Sitts was executed by borrowed electric chair from Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

due to problems with South Dakota own chair. This claim remains unproven and challenged.

Pre-Furman executions

Between 1877 and 1915, 14 individuals were executed in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

. All were executed by hanging

Hanging

Executed person	Date of execution	Crime	Under Governor
Jack McCall Jack McCall John "Jack" McCall , known by the nickname "Crooked Nose Jack or Broken Nose Jack, was the killer of James "Wild Bill" Hickok, shooting him from behind, an act that among admirers of Hickok and students of Hickok's history has given rise to the phrase "the coward Jack McCall."-...	1 March 1877	murder of Wild Bill Hickok Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...	John L. Pennington John L. Pennington John L. Pennington was a newspaper publisher, an Alabama state senator, and the fifth Governor of Dakota Territory.-Biography:...
Thomas Egan	13 July 1882	murder of his wife, Mary	Nehemiah G. Ordway Nehemiah G. Ordway Nehemiah George Ordway was a New Hampshire state senator and the seventh Governor of Dakota Territory. Ordway was regarded as one of Dakota Territory's most controversial governors....
Brave Bear	1 November 1882	murder of Joseph Johnson	Nehemiah G. Ordway Nehemiah G. Ordway Nehemiah George Ordway was a New Hampshire state senator and the seventh Governor of Dakota Territory. Ordway was regarded as one of Dakota Territory's most controversial governors....
James Gilmore	15 December 1882	murder of Bisente Ortez	Nehemiah G. Ordway Nehemiah G. Ordway Nehemiah George Ordway was a New Hampshire state senator and the seventh Governor of Dakota Territory. Ordway was regarded as one of Dakota Territory's most controversial governors....
James B. Lehman	February 19, 1892	murder of Constable John Burns	Arthur C. Mellette Arthur C. Mellette Arthur Calvin Mellette was the last Governor of the Dakota Territory and was the first Governor of the State of South Dakota.-Biography:...
Nathaniel Thompson	January 20, 1893	murder of Electa Blighton	Charles H. Sheldon Charles H. Sheldon Charles Henry Sheldon was the second Governor of South Dakota.-Biography:Charles Henry Sheldon was born in Lamoille County, Vermont, the third of four children of Gresham and Mary Sheldon. After the death of his father in 1844, Sheldon worked as a farm laborer from the ages of twelve to...
Jay Hicks	November 15, 1894	murder and robbery of John Meyer	Charles H. Sheldon Charles H. Sheldon Charles Henry Sheldon was the second Governor of South Dakota.-Biography:Charles Henry Sheldon was born in Lamoille County, Vermont, the third of four children of Gresham and Mary Sheldon. After the death of his father in 1844, Sheldon worked as a farm laborer from the ages of twelve to...
Chief Two Sticks	28 December 1894	instigating four murders	Charles H. Sheldon Charles H. Sheldon Charles Henry Sheldon was the second Governor of South Dakota.-Biography:Charles Henry Sheldon was born in Lamoille County, Vermont, the third of four children of Gresham and Mary Sheldon. After the death of his father in 1844, Sheldon worked as a farm laborer from the ages of twelve to...
Charles Brown	14 July 1897	murder and robbery of Emma Stone	Andrew E. Lee Andrew E. Lee Andrew Ericson Lee was an American politician who served as the third Governor of South Dakota.-Background:Lee was born near Bergen in Norway and at a young age moved with his parents to the United States. His parents were Eric Lee and Augusta Lee. He spent his childhood on a farm in Dane...
Ernest Loveswar	19 September 1902	murders of George Puck and George Ostrander	Charles N. Herreid Charles N. Herreid Charles Nelson Herreid was the fourth Governor of South Dakota.-Biography:Charles Herreid was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended Galesville University in Wisconsin from 1874 to 1878 and the University of Wisconsin from 1880 to 1882...
Allen Walkingshield	January 15, 1902	murder of Mrs. Ghost-Faced Bear	Charles N. Herreid Charles N. Herreid Charles Nelson Herreid was the fourth Governor of South Dakota.-Biography:Charles Herreid was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended Galesville University in Wisconsin from 1874 to 1878 and the University of Wisconsin from 1880 to 1882...
George Bear	5 December 1902	murder of C. Edward Tayloe and John Shaw	Charles N. Herreid Charles N. Herreid Charles Nelson Herreid was the fourth Governor of South Dakota.-Biography:Charles Herreid was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended Galesville University in Wisconsin from 1874 to 1878 and the University of Wisconsin from 1880 to 1882...
Emil Victor	16 November 1909	murder of Mr. and Mrs. James Christie, daughter Mildred and Michael Ronayne	Robert S. Vessey Robert S. Vessey Robert Scadden Vessey was the seventh Governor of South Dakota. Vessey, a Republican from Wessington Springs, served from 1909 to 1913.-Biography:...
Joe Rickman	December 3, 1913	murder of Ellen Fox and her 14-year-old daughter, Mildred Fox	Frank M. Byrne Frank M. Byrne Frank M. Byrne was the eighth Governor of South Dakota.-Biography:Byrne was born near Volney, Allamakee County, Iowa to Irish immigrants, Michael and Delia Byrne. Byrne's formal education was limited to rural school; but, he frequently read books from his own large library...

After reintroduction of the death penalty, until post-Furman era, one person was executed:

Inmate	Date	Method	Crime	Under Governor
George Sitts George Sitts George Sitts was executed at the age of 33 by the U.S. state of South Dakota for the murder of state Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Tom Matthews, who was attempting to arrest Sitts on a fugitive warrant from Minnesota.He was the only person to die in South Dakota's electric...	April 8, 1947	electric chair Electric chair Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...	Murder of special state agent Thomas Matthews. He also killed Butte Co. Sheriff Dave Malcolm, but was not separately tried for that murder.	George T. Mickelson George T. Mickelson George Theodore Mickelson was the 18th Governor of South Dakota, and later a United States federal judge.-Background:...

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