ONLY 100 DAYS!!!
Janklow sentenced to 100 days in jail
Average second-degree manslaughter sentence is six months
FLANDREAU, South Dakota (AP) -- Bill Janklow, who dominated South Dakota politics for three decades as governor and then congressman, was sentenced to 100 days in jail Thursday for an auto accident that killed a motorcyclist and ended Janklow's career in disgrace.
After 30 days behind bars, Janklow will be allowed to leave jail during the day for up to 10 hours to perform community service. After he completes his jail term, he will be on probation for three years, during which he will not be allowed to drive.
The 64-year-old Republican was found guilty December 8 of second-degree manslaughter, speeding and running a stop sign for a collision that killed 55-year-old motorcyclist Randy Scott at a rural intersection on August 16.
Janklow announced his resignation from the House hours after the verdict.
South Dakota does not require minimum sentences, so Judge Rodney Steele was free to impose anything from no jail time and no fines to a total of more than 11 years behind bars and $11,400 in fines.
During the trial in Janklow's hometown, the jury saw him in tears as he described his grief over the crash. The defense argued that Janklow, a diabetic, had not eaten for 18 hours and was suffering a diabetic reaction that left him confused and disoriented.
A prosecutor called the scenario "goofy" and said Janklow concocted it as an excuse for going 71 mph in a 55 mph zone in his Cadillac.
Janklow was state attorney general in the 1970s before serving a total of 16 years as governor and then winning South Dakota's lone House seat in 2002.
An Associated Press review of South Dakota court records shows most people convicted of second-degree manslaughter get at least some time behind bars. Forty people have been found guilty of second-degree manslaughter since 1989, according to computerized court-system data. A review shows that 32 of those people were sent to prison or jail.
The average jail term was six months,