Committee Kills False Statement Bill
Air Date:01/25/2011
By Kealey Bultena
The Senate Judiciary Committee has killed a bill that expands the crime of giving false information to investigators.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says the current law requires a report filed to prosecute someone who lies to authorities.
"You may have a situation where the report isn’t done yet. Then you get in the problem as a prosecutor of saying, well the report may not have been done yet but we anticipated to get the report done. You can see the problems of going down that road," Jackley says. "So rather than tying it to this requirement that there is a report or a transmittal of a report, to just simply say, let’s focus on the basics. The basics is, under this particular statute, if you provide a false statement or you conceal certain things, and it’s material, it can’t be some side issue, then it can be a misdemeanor offense like it is in other states."
Some Senators voice concerns that the legislation works against victims or applies too harshly for small offenses. Committee members delayed the bill until the 41st legislative day, three days after the session ends this spring. That kills the legislation.
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