SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - The Minnehaha County Public Defender’s office last year represented almost 7,000 clients, most too poor to hire a lawyer.
In an annual report to the Minnehaha County Commission Public Defender Traci Smith says probation violations doubled.
Smith says the increase reflects a change in South Dakota Senate Bill 70, the Public Safety Improvement Act, where there are more probation violations rather than charging people with new cviolations.
Smith says felony simple assaults rose 300% largely because of a change in the law allowing prosecutors to go back to a third simple assault in ten years.