(South Dakota Broadcasters Association) A South Dakota House committee has killed a bill that would have ended the death penalty in the state.
The House Judiciary Committee sent house to the 41st day Wednesday — defeated on a 10-to-1 vote.
Representative Tim Reisch of Howard introduced the bill — a rare move for a former sheriff.
Reisch also served as South Dakota Secretary of Corrections. He was in the execution chamber in 2007 when the state carried out its first lethal injection.
He told the committee the research is clear:
A Sioux Falls woman told the committee what it felt like to serve as a juror on a capital punishment case roughly 40 years ago.
Mary Ihli (Eye-lee), a retired emergency room nurse, described asking God for guidance during deliberations — and what she heard:
Attorney General Marty Jackley led the opposition.
He said South Dakota’s capital punishment framework is carefully constructed, constitutional and reserved only for the most extreme cases.
He argued it protects lives — not just outside prison, but inside:
Lynette Johnson of Sioux Falls is the widow of Senior Correctional Officer Ronald R.J. Johnson.
Two inmates killed him at the state penitentiary on his 63rd birthday in 2011.
She showed the committee photos of her husband and spoke of the toll his death took on their family.
Then she made her plea:
The committee voted 10-to-1 to kill the bill. Only Reisch — the bill’s own sponsor — voted no.
South Dakota will keep the death penalty on the books for at least another year.
South Dakota currently has one inmate on death row. A
pending case involving the alleged killing of Deputy Ken Prorok is set for jury trial in September.
