The Verdict

Congressman guilty in rider’s death

American Motorcyclist, February 2004, Page 18

The trial took a full week.

But a jury took only four hours to convict U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow (R-S.D.) of second-degree manslaughter and other charges in the traffic death of motorcyclist Randolph Scott.

With that verdict on December 8, a dozen South Dakota jurors ended the political career of one of the most prominent figures in state politics. And they came down firmly on the side of justice for the family and friends of Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minnesota.

Janklow, 64, was accused of driving a Cadillac at high speed through a stop sign at a rural South Dakota intersection on August 16. The only mistake Scott made while riding with a friend on that Saturday afternoon was getting in the congressman’s way.

Scott was approaching the intersection, where there is no stop sign on the road he was traveling, when, according to testimony in court, Janklow sped through at more than 70 mph. Scott’s bike impacted the Cadillac’s left rear door. The rider was thrown from the machine and found in an adjacent field, dead.

There was never any doubt about the cause of the crash. But it seemed clear from the beginning that this tragedy went far beyond a simple traffic accident, prompting the prosecutor to file the charge of second-degree manslaughter, saying that Janklow had acted with “conscious disregard” for the safety of others.

The question was whether the justice system would see it that way when the defendant was an influential politician and the victim was a mere motorcyclist.

Janklow was in his first term in Washington as South Dakota’s only representative in the U.S. House. But before that, he served 16 years as the state’s governor, plus four more as the state’s attorney general.

Throughout his career, he was known as a flamboyant politician with a penchant for speeding. He had emergency lights installed on his car while governor, and used them regularly to travel at high speeds. And in spite of the offices he held, he was still ticketed for speeding a dozen times in the years between his terms as governor. Plus, there were several reports of incidents in which the governor was let off with a warning for violations that would have landed an ordinary citizen in serious legal trouble.

At the crash scene, Janklow blamed the accident on a white car that he said swerved into his lane, causing him to “goose it” and run the stop sign. By the time the trial started, the defense had abandoned that story, knowing that witnesses to the crash would testify that there was no other car present.

Instead, defense lawyer Ed Evans tried to blame the crash on a low blood-sugar condition resulting from Janklow’s diabetes. He told the jury that this condition caused Janklow to become disoriented and miss the stop sign entirely.

From the opening day of testimony, it appeared that approach was in serious trouble. Jurors saw a state police videotape and heard testimony indicating that Janklow knew what was going on even after suffering a head injury in the crash.

He twice indicated that he saw the stop sign, and when police who were aware of his diabetes asked him about his blood-sugar level, he said he had tested himself and was fine. He was also evaluated by an emergency medical technician who is himself a diabetic and was looking for signs of a low blood-sugar condition.

Janklow didn’t help his cause when he admitted in testimony that he often drove at high speeds, and that he sometimes ran stop signs when he was late for appointments.

In spite of those problems with the defense, it was still uncertain whether a jury of people who lived near Janklow’s hometown would actually convict the former governor of a felony that carries a potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The decision was put in the hands of that jury at about 1 p.m. on Monday, December 8. And before 5 p.m., jurors had returned with guilty verdicts on the lesser charges of speeding, running a stop sign and reckless driving, plus the felony manslaughter count.

At presstime, sentencing on those charges was set for January 20. But even before that sentence was handed down, Janklow had announced that he would resign his congressional seat effective that day.

Scott’s family and some of his many friends from the farming community of Hardwick, Minnesota, just across the state line from South Dakota, were present throughout the trial. Afterward, the family released a statement that said in part: “We are satisfied that the correct verdict was reached. The cause of Randy’s death is no longer in dispute.”

Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations, added a reaction on the part of many motorcyclists.

“The legal system can never eliminate the loss suffered by the Scott family,” he said, “but we hope this verdict sends a strong message, both to citizens and to the justice system, that killing a motorcyclist has consequences.”

For more details on the trial and the events that led up to it, visit the Rights section of www.AMADirectlink.com and look for “Janklow.”

Car-bike Crashes Common

While the spectacle of a U.S. congressman on trial for manslaughter attracted national attention to the Janklow case, this case is the exception. Each year, thousands of motorcyclists are injured or killed by car drivers who face little in the way of penalties.

In a few cases, the evidence of reckless disregard for the safety of other highway users is so great that, as with Janklow, felony criminal charges are filed. But most of the time, prosecutors and judges must deal with these cases purely as traffic offenses, in spite of the consequences for the motorcyclist victim.

On June 25, for instance, motorcyclist Glenn Baswell was killed when an oncoming car crossed into his lane and hit him head-on. The only charges the 17-year-old driver faces carry, at maximum, penalties of $350 in fines and points against her license.

Just a few days later, on June 28, AMA member John Innes was riding in southwestern New York when a pickup truck pulled out of a side road into his path, killing him. The driver was charged with failure to yield. His sentence? Three points off his driver’s license and a $100 fine.

In cases like these, it’s clear that traffic laws in many states don’t take into account the damage that cars can inflict on motorcyclists, bicyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. For that reason, the AMA started the Motorcyclists Matter campaign, which seeks to establish minimum fines and, more importantly, driver’s license suspensions, for car drivers who injure or kill others on the road.

That campaign seeks to get new laws passed in all 50 states. And some of those providing the most support for it are people close to previous tragedies.

In 2002, Jody Patteson lost her 20-year-old son when a car turned in front of his motorcycle. The car driver was ordered to pay a $200 fine for failure to yield. Working with the AMA, Patteson pushed for a new law based on the Motorcyclists Matter campaign and succeeded. Under that law, a driver who kills someone on the road would lose his or her drivers license for up to a year, even if the case is treated purely as a traffic offense.

So far, two other states—Washington and West Virginia—have passed similar bills. And right now, Mary Innes Wagner, sister of John Innes, is working with AMA Community Council leader Larry Schwartz in New York to get Motorcyclists Matter legislation passed in that state.

“I will be relentless until the laws are changed,” she has said. “I have to make John’s death count for something.”