Janklow to quit after manslaughter verdict
South Dakota congressman facing jail term
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Janklow could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter.
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CNN's Bob Franken reports on South Dakota Rep. Bill Janklow's manslaughter trial.
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FLANDREAU, South Dakota (AP) -- Rep. Bill Janklow announced Monday he will resign from Congress after being convicted earlier in the day of manslaughter in a collision that killed a motorcyclist.
"I wish to inform you that because of present circumstances, I will be unable to perform the duties incumbent on me in representing the people of South Dakota as their U.S. representative," Janklow wrote in a letter that he said was to be sent to House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Tuesday.
"Therefore I wish to inform you that I will resign from the House of Representatives, effective January 20, 2004." It is the same date Janklow is scheduled to be sentenced for his manslaughter conviction.
Janklow was convicted Monday of manslaughter for a collision that killed a motorcyclist. The jury rejected the congressman's claim that he was disoriented by a diabetic reaction.
Janklow, 64, was charged with reckless driving, running a stop sign, speeding and second-degree manslaughter for the August 16 crash at a rural intersection that killed motorcyclist Randy Scott, 55.
Janklow could face up to 10 years in prison.
The prosecution and defense spent Monday morning summing up their cases, and the jury got the case shortly before 1 p.m. CST.
The defense maintained that Janklow was suffering a diabetic reaction at the time of the crash but did not know it because the symptoms were masked by heart medication he was taking.
But deputy prosecutor Roger Ellyson said Janklow lied about what happened to three different officers at the scene. Janklow had told two troopers and a deputy that he was trying to avoid a white car when the accident occurred.
Janklow's driving is "unbelievably awful and menacing," Ellyson said. "His driving causes him to tell false stories."
In his closing argument, defense lawyer Ed Evans said investigators and prosecutors quickly concluded Janklow must have sped through the stop sign and did not want to know the truth. Because of that, they were not interested in finding out if a diabetic condition was to blame, he said.
"Did they ever even consider it?" Evans asked. "What happened to fairness? What happened to presumption of innocence? What happened to looking for the truth?"
Evans held up Janklow's mangled glasses and asked how he could not have suffered a head injury. That explains why Janklow thought he was hit by a white car and made other unreliable statements, Evans said.
Evans said prosecutors are wrong to claim that Janklow recklessly sped through the stop sign before crashing with Scott.
"Does it make sense that you drive through a blind intersection, risking your own life, the life of your passenger and the life of others?" Evans asked jurors. "My definition of Russian roulette is putting the gun to your head and not somebody else's."
Janklow took notes during closing arguments, occasionally looking up. Some of his family members sitting behind him cried during the prosecution's arguments. Scott's mother and other Scott family supporters sat in the front rows behind prosecutors, across from Janklow's friends and family.
Janklow testified tearfully about the crash Saturday. He said a tight schedule had kept him from eating, even though he knew the risk of taking his insulin and not eating.
"I just plain forgot," he said. As for why, "I've asked myself that 10 million times since this day."
Ellyson contended Janklow didn't suffer a diabetic reaction at the time of the accident.
Janklow told an emergency medical technician that he had eaten earlier in the day and told another EMT that he had checked his blood glucose level, Ellyson said.
"If you believe the incredible story that the defendant, a 240-pound man, didn't eat for 18 hours, he's still guilty," he said.
That's because that as a diabetic, Janklow should have made sure he didn't let himself get low on blood sugar, Ellyson said. The state Supreme Court has ruled that in the case of a fatal auto accident, reckless behavior includes a driver's "a conscious and unjustifiable disregard of a substantial risk."
Prosecutors argued that Janklow, once an unapologetic speeder, was driving too fast that day as well and ignored a stop sign.
A woman testified that Janklow had run a stop sign nearly a year ago at the same intersection at which Scott died.
The woman said she didn't pursue charges against Janklow because he was governor at the time. On the stand, Janklow denied running the stop sign.
The blunt, tough-talking Republican, one of South Dakota's most powerful political figures, served as attorney general for four years in the 1970s and 16 years as governor before being elected to South Dakota's lone House seat last year.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
