Nowadays, Capital punishment in South Dakota has become a topic of great relevance in our society. With the advancement of technology and globalization, Capital punishment in South Dakota has taken a leading role in different areas of daily life. From politics to popular culture, Capital punishment in South Dakota has significantly impacted the way we interact and relate to each other. In this article, we will explore the importance of Capital punishment in South Dakota and its influence on different aspects of our lives, as well as the implications it has for the future.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of South Dakota.
As of November 2019, five condemned, all white males, have been executed since capital punishment was reinstated in the state in 1979; two of those cases were prisoners who waived their normal appeals and chose to be put to death.
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial).
The governor has the power of clemency with respect to death sentences.
Death row is located at the South Dakota State Penitentiary located in Sioux Falls. Lethal injection is the only method of execution provided by statutes.
First-degree murder is a Class A Felony in South Dakota, punishable by death or life imprisonment without parole. It is the only Class A Felony in the state and can be punished with death if (and only if) it involves any of the following aggravating factors:
South Dakota executed four men between 1877 and its admission to the union in 1889, and 10 men between that time and the abolition of South Dakota's death penalty in 1915. Each of these death sentences were carried out by hanging. The death penalty was reinstated in 1939 and electric chair became the sole method. The procurement of an electric chair proved difficult for the State: in 1942, as United States entered the Second World War, the warden of the South Dakota State Penitentiary sought help from the War Production Board to have one built, but his request was denied. Two men were awaiting execution in 1942, but the state did not have an electric chair available. The warden of the South Dakota State Penitentiary, William Jamerson, traveled to Vermont in 1942, seeking to borrow that state's electric chair for use in anticipated executions in South Dakota, however it was determined that a difference in electrical conditions in South Dakota would preclude use of the Vermont chair. The warden was able to convince the state of Illinois to lend their electric chair from Stateville Prison to the South Dakota State Penitentiary the following month.
However, the two death sentences were commuted and no executions occurred in it in South Dakota. South Dakota returned the Illinois electric chair after receiving clearance from the War Production Board to obtain materials necessary to build their own electric chair in February, 1944.
The only person ever to be judicially electrocuted in South Dakota was George Sitts, who was put to death on April 8, 1947, at the South Dakota State Penitentiary. South Dakota was the second-to-last state to adopt electrocution as an execution method, and Sitts' execution was South Dakota's last until after Furman.
On January 1, 1979, Governor Bill Janklow signed South Dakota's post-Furman death penalty statute. It was the first act he signed as governor. All subsequent executions have been by lethal injection. The first occurred in 2007 with the execution of Elijah Page. Only four others have been executed since, the most recent occurring in 2019.
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