The Pennington County State's Attorney is adding four new employees to handle additional responsibilities of working with crime victims.
The expansion of county government comes on the heels of Amendment S, or Marsy's Law. It was passed by South Dakota voters and takes effect this week. The law offers rights to victims of all crimes and to some of their relatives.
The Marsy's Law campaign manager says the amendment relies on a system of notifications that makes additional employees unnecessary. But State's Attorney Mark Vargo tells SDPB's Victoria Wicks that automated notifications aren't sufficient to give rights to an increased caseload.