SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Former Rep. Bill Janklow faces sentencing on manslaughter charges Thursday for an auto wreck that ended his 30-year political career and could send him to prison for more than 11 years.
Janklow, 64, a four-term Republican governor whose resignation from Congress took effect Tuesday, was found guilty Dec. 8 of speeding, running a stop sign, reckless driving and second-degree manslaughter in the Aug. 16 death of 55-year-old motorcyclist Randy Scott at a rural intersection near the congressman’s hometown of Flandreau.
Judge Rodney Steele can impose a sentence of anything from no jail time and no fines to a total of 11 years and two months behind bars and $11,400 in fines.
An Associated Press review of South Dakota court records shows that most people convicted of second-degree manslaughter get at least some time behind bars.
The review found that 40 people have been found guilty of second-degree manslaughter since 1989, and 32 of them were sent to prison or jail. The average jail term was six months; the average prison term nearly seven years. About half of the convictions involved traffic accidents.
Janklow was state attorney general and, later, governor on and off beginning in the 1970s, before being elected in 2002 to South Dakota’s lone House seat. The seat will remain open until a June 1 election.
The motorcyclist’s family is suing the former politician for unspecified damages.