Native men matter! South Dakota urgently needs a 'common sense' 21st century Habeas Corpus Law to address its many wrongful convictions. Especially Native Americans who sadly sport an almost 100% conviction rate are in dire need of judicial relief enabling them to show actual innocence. South Dakota researches  the fact that the state sends so many Native men to prison and officially concludes that bias is the big elephant in the room. However South Dakota does nothing and legislators sleep. Help us and stand with us to wake your legislators up! 

What constitutes "junk science"? The term emerged in the late 1980s and and early 1990s and was popularized by Peter Huber in "Galileo's revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom". Huber describes junk science as "the mirror image of real science, which much of the same form but none of the same substance".

Modern Science now casts a serious doubt upon the soundness of convictions that are based on previously "valid" science. Senate Bill No.344 of 83rd Legislature when first implemented in Texas resulted in Art. 11.073, C.CR.P. (Criminal Procedure) and relates to the procedure and remedies available to prisoners who claim actual innocence and whom were sentenced based on "junk science".  The introduction of this law would grant innocent prisoners relief on an application for a writ of habeas corpus. 

It is well known that certain forensic disciplines were developed "solely to solve crime". However South Dakota still accepts any expert as an expert for everything the prosecution requires to convict. This is not Justice. 

Sure we all know the tremendous technological and scientific advancements of the last decades. Research papers or untested opinions that were once believed to have merit have long been outdated and some even laughed at for being downright ludicrous. In the free world this is not generally an issue. BUT what if you were previously sentenced to decades in prison on what an inexperienced doctor or scientist opined 20 years earlier and what to do If the legal system in South Dakota allows no remedy to attack the "junk" your false conviction is based upon?

FINALLY we would like to dedicate this petition to every Native American man and woman unjustly convicted with the helping hand of "junk science" and to this day still incarcerated. There are hundreds of cases, hundreds of names.

Please add your loved ones name in the comment section!

Please write to the law makers and please encourage others to do the same. Thank you for your support!

Please SHARE and SIGN the petition. Please write or call South Dakotas law makers and ask them to write this new law. To pass a new law is not a process long and not difficult to do.

To pass a new law one simply needs to contact one of the State Legislators to see if they will carry a bill. Basically what this petition is intended to do or support in part. Once that is done then they will have the bill written by LRC (Legal Research Council) and it will go before hearing in committee. If it passes committee it will go to the house floor to be discussed there. If it gets through the House it will go to Senate and repeat the procedure. If passed in Senate it will go to the Governor to be signed into law. It sounds lengthy, but the whole process lasts anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. So it can be done. 

Thank you from the heart in the name of the many innocent who have no voices. 

Senator Kevin Killer
PO Box 322
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
Phone Numbers
Home 605-454-8105
Capitol 605-773-3851

Kevin.Killer@sdlegislature.gov

Representative Shawn Bordeaux     PO Box 283
444 Haystack Butte Rd.
Mission, SD 57555
Phone Numbers
Home
Capitol 605-773-3851
Business 605-856-8241

Shawn.Bordeaux@sdlegislature.gov

Representative Elizabeth May

20261 BIA 2
Kyle, SD 57752
Phone Numbers
Home 605-455-2588
Capitol 605-773-3851
Business 605-455-2824

Elizabeth.May@sdlegislature.gov