Carson Walker
Associated Press
Mar. 22, 2003 12:00 AM
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - South Dakota governors have granted a number of pardons over the past two decades, but the state is keeping the names secret under a 1983 law designed to give people a fresh start.
Among the few known beneficiaries: an Indian activist Russell Means, convicted in a 1974 courthouse riot, and a former Cabinet member who pleaded guilty to driving drunk.
Over the past few months, as the cases have come to light, the secrecy provision has been fodder for talk shows, a bill in the Legislature to modify it, and a lawsuit by three people who were pardoned but don't want their names released.
Under the law, once a pardon is granted, every document from arrest to conviction is sealed. The state won't release the number of pardons because of the lawsuit.
The two recently reported pardons came from Bill Janklow, who spent two eight-year stretches in the governor's mansion before leaving for Congress in January.
Janklow signed the law himself during his first stint in the office, though he said last month that he didn't know about the secrecy provision.
Mark Meierhenry, who was attorney general when it was adopted, said it was meant to let people get their lives back after they had atoned for their mistakes.
Spurred by the uproar, state lawmakers passed a bill that would allow the names to remain sealed for only five years, but the current governor hasn't decided to sign it.
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