Bikers Rights Issue

Bikers push for rights

By Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer

A national push for tougher sentencing laws prompted by the Bill Janklow motorcycle manslaughter case will come to the Sturgis rally in August.

However, a South Dakota motorcycle rights group says it is not rushing into proposals to change sentencing laws in this state.

"Justice for All," an American Motorcyclist Association initiative, was prompted in part by bikers nationwide who were upset over what they viewed as a light sentence for former Gov. and congressman Bill Janklow, who was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for killing Minnesota motorcyclist Randy Scott last August.

Janklow, who was sentenced to 100 days in jail, is due to be released from Minnehaha County Jail in Sioux Falls on Monday, May 17. Janklow could have received as much as 10 years in prison.

Janklow's sentence, imposed in January, sparked an outcry from motorcycle riders nationwide. Some vowed they would boycott the Sturgis rally in protest.

The AMA does not support a boycott, saying such a move would only hurt the pro-motorcycle businesses and groups in South Dakota.

The group also won't stage any protests or sponsor any rally events associated with Justice for All. But the group will have a Justice for All information center at the Sturgis Music Festival grounds, at the corner of Second and Lazelle streets, from Tuesday, Aug. 10, through Friday, Aug. 13.

AMA spokesman Tom Lindsay emphasized that the Justice for All initiative is a national effort. "It's not about South Dakota. It's not about Bill Janklow," Lindsay said in a phone interview Wednesday. "It's about the disturbing trend of light sentences that we've seen happening all across the country."

Lindsay cited a recent case in Iowa in which the driver of a van crossed the center line and smashed into a group of six motorcycle riders, killing three of them. One of the survivors lost a leg. "The sum total of the penalty for this was a $70 fine," Lindsay said.

The driver was acquitted of vehicular homicide but was convicted of two minor offenses, crossing the center line and failure to maintain control of his vehicle.

Lindsay said other cases in which bikers were killed or badly hurt by motorists also drew inadequate sentences.

Among the recent cases, Lindsay said, "The sentence on Mr. Janklow was arguably the most severe of all, and we still feel that that was inadequate."

Lindsay said the AMA is still hearing complaints from members about the Janklow sentence. "But one of the things that we're glad to see is that outrage is turning into action in the motorcyclists' home states."

Lindsay said the 265,000-member AMA is working with state motorcycle groups to toughen sentencing guidelines for drivers whose crimes kill or maim other drivers, not just motorcycle riders. Lindsay said earlier that one possible solution is mandatory minimum sentences.

However, motorcyclist advocacy group ABATE of South Dakota plans to go slowly on proposing changes in state law, state coordinator Darrel Killion of Madison said Wednesday.

ABATE, or A Brotherhood for Awareness Training and Education, officials are discussing possibilities for legislative proposals with the AMA, he said.

Although ABATE officials would have preferred a longer prison term for Janklow, most group members believe current sentencing guidelines are adequate, Killion said.

He acknowledged that there was no minimum sentence facing Janklow. But Killion said minimum sentences are not the solution. "If you have mandatory minimums, you may be putting someone in prison that maybe shouldn't be in prison," he said. "Our No. 1 concern is what's going to be good for not just motorcyclists but all users of the road in South Dakota."

Killion said the state's prison population is already too high and that taxpayers and the Legislature are not likely to support changes in law that will further increase the number of prisoners.

One legislator who is a biker, state Rep. Mike Buckingham, R-Rapid City, also was cool to the idea of changing the state's sentencing structure.

Buckingham said he hadn't had a chance to fully research the AMA's legislative proposal.

He also said he was satisfied with Janklow's sentence. Buckingham, who said he rides 10,000 miles a year, was bothered more by a case in Rapid City a couple of years ago in which a woman who killed a biker in an accident got off with a small fine. "I thought that was a slap on the wrist," Buckingham said.

He said penalties depend more on prosecutors and judges than the law.

Buckingham said the prosecutor, the jury and the judge in Janklow's case all did a good job.

Many bikers in South Dakota and across the nation disagreed with Judge Rodney Steele's sentence, firing off e-mails threatening to boycott Sturgis this year.

The boycott messages have stopped, according to Kim Stansbury at the Sturgis rally department office. But the office is getting a lot of phone calls from people planning to come to this year's rally. "We're busy," she said Wednesday.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com


John Steele
SD MRF Rep www.mrf.org
SD ABATE www.abatesd.com
Sturgis Rally Raffle www.abatesd.com/SturgisRaffle3.asp