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Is there no pressing non-sentencing business in South Dakota?

By Douglas A. Berman

This local AP story has me wondering if the South Dakota legislature has solved all of the state's other pressing problems:South Dakota House is scheduled to consider a measure Monday to eliminate an archaic judicial doctrine that wipes away criminal convictions if defendants die before they are sentenced.  Representative Rich Engels of Hartford says many states already have abandoned the nearly century-old doctrine.  HB1271, offered by Engels, would add South Dakota to the list.  He says the doctrine developed in common law out of the view that a criminal conviction is not complete until an appeal has been completed or the time to appeal has passed. Engels says approval of HB1271 would allow crime victims to continue their quest for restitution...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 10, 2008 (boomark / email).