Congressman’s Trial Gets Off to a Tense Start

The felony manslaughter case against Rep. William J. Janklow (R-S.D.) got underway Monday in a crowded and tense courtroom here, with prosecutor William Ellingson describing the state’s only congressman as a liar and reckless driver who disregarded traffic laws “without a care.”

Defense attorneys countered in their opening statement that Janklow -- who has admitted to speeding -- was medically impaired when he allegedly ran a stop sign on a rural road in August, striking and killing a motorcyclist.

The 64-year-old Janklow, who is diabetic, had not eaten properly the day of the accident and his reactions were slowed because of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, attorney Ed Evans told the court.

Janklow was charged with “reckless driving and second-degree manslaughter, not failure to eat,” Evans said to the jury of nine women and four men selected earlier in the day. One of the 13 will later be declared an alternate.

The trial is expected to last about a week. If convicted in the death of Randolph E. Scott, 55, Janklow faces up to 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine and potentially the end of his political career.

The prosecution is to begin calling witnesses today. The list includes several police officers and emergency medical personnel; Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who was at an event with Janklow the day of the accident; and Jennifer Walters of the nearby village of Trent. Walters is expected to testify that last December, she experienced a near-collision with Janklow at the same intersection.

“Randy Scott’s fate was sealed all because of an important person, driving an important-looking vehicle,” Ellingson said. “Had the defendant simply stopped as required ... Randy Scott would be alive.”

Evans was quick to fight back.

He told the jury that the accident came at the end of a two-day road trip for Janklow and his chief of staff, Chris Braendlin.

The pair had spent a day in the capital of Pierre, dealing with business meetings and visiting a dying friend of Janklow’s. When Janklow was tired, Evans said, Braendlin drove the politician’s 1995 white Cadillac with the dark-tinted windows.

The next day, the two men traveled to Aberdeen for an event celebrating the anniversary of the end of the Korean War. After that, Evans said, they headed south and ultimately traveled down Highway 13 -- a back road that cuts through Flandreau and runs close to Janklow’s home in Brandon.

Although Janklow did take an insulin shot in the morning, Evans said, the politician did not eat throughout the day of the accident. But drugs that Janklow was taking at the time for hypertension masked the hypoglycemia, he said.

“The first thing he did after the accident, he tried to get the car started and keep going with [their] trip,” Evans said. “He would not get out of the car when his assistant [Braendlin] said: ‘This car’s on fire’. He was mixed up; he was confused.”

“Mr. Janklow may speed,” Evans told the jury. “But he didn’t have a habit of driving through stop signs. He’s not a fool.”

Throughout the trial’s opening statements, Janklow sat quietly at the corner of the defense table. Dressed in a dark blue suit, the politician never made eye contact with jurors.

Instead, Janklow spent part of the time taking notes -- and the remainder with a hand over his mouth, his eyes squeezed shut.

When he left the courthouse, Janklow tried to get inside the wrong vehicle. A reporter informed the politician of his mistake. Janklow responded with a vague complaint about the bright camera lights of the television reporters who had followed him out of the building.

Throughout much of the afternoon Monday, Scott’s relatives -- including his mother, Marcella Scott, his widow and two daughters -- sat in the dark wooden pews behind the prosecution table. They listened to Evans carefully, passing a handkerchief back and forth throughout the day.

The family arrived at the courthouse as scores of local residents were crammed elbow to hip during jury selection.

Many of the original 89 people in the jury pool, who were drawn from the estimated 4,000 registered voters in the southern South Dakota region, knew each other from school, church or the neighborhood.

And most had ties to either Janklow, the attorneys involved in the trial or the witnesses set to testify this week.

“This case scares me because the defendant is so well-known and Flandreau is his hometown -- a fact I’m reminded of every time I drive into town,” deputy prosecutor Roger Ellyson told jurors Monday, referring to a sign at the entrance to this agricultural hamlet of 2,300 boasting of its connection to Janklow.

Several jurors were dismissed once they disclosed that Ellingson, who has a side business, handled their taxes. One woman said the Janklow family sponsored her when she applied for citizenship. Another woman told attorneys that she had known the Janklow family her whole life.

After one juror was excused, the man walked up to Janklow and shook hands with the former state attorney general and four-term governor.

“It’s going to be a tough trial for everyone. The man’s dead, Bill Janklow’s in court and everyone knows everyone else,” said Helen Daliey, a dismissed juror who has lived in Moody County for 56 years. “I’m just relieved I’m not going to be among the 12 who have to make that decision.”