Victoria Wicks
Former SDPB Freelance Reporter/ProducerRapid City freelancer Victoria L. Wicks has been producing news for SDPB since August 2007. She Retired from this position in March 2023.
She has been a newspaper reporter, and she spent about 14 years advocating for crime victims in Rapid City and Aberdeen.
Victoria is also a creative writer; several of her short stories have been published, one of them in an anthology titled Fishing for Chickens: Short Stories about Rural Youth.
In addition, Victoria is a visual artist, creating pottery, watercolors, oil and acrylic paintings, and photographs. She holds a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of South Dakota.
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U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann refused to dismiss indictments against a defendant after she entered into a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office. Kornmann said because of the deal, he would not be able to sentence Tiffany Bernard to more than 15 years in prison, even though she was the ringleader of a vicious crime. -
The U.S. Supreme Court held in a recent opinion that states have concurrent jurisdiction in Indian country over non-Indians committing crimes against any victim. This ruling creates overlapping prosecution powers of state, federal, and tribal authorities. -
The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta expands jurisdiction over certain crimes committed in Indian country. Now states share jurisdiction with federal authorities. -
In the aftermath of the opinion in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, the National Congress of American Indians and Native American Rights Fund brought indigenous leaders together for a virtual roundtable to sort out what the ruling means. -
At the end of June, after the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court issued another opinion that shook tribal nations. -
The United States Supreme Court has issued an opinion giving states concurrent jurisdiction with the federal government over major crimes in Indian Country. The 5-4 ruling overturns precedent, laws, and traditions going as far back as 200 years. -
In 2014 the South Dakota legislature approved reforms for the juvenile justice system that would give services to delinquent kids through teams of professionals in their communities. -
South Dakota has 66 counties, but only 25 of them have a county jail. Some sheriffs turn to other counties when they need to find a jail cell for a prisoner, but too often they find that all available space is filled. -
One allegation in a Yankton businessman’s lawsuit against Yankton County can go forward, according to an opinion issued by the South Dakota Supreme Court. -
The South Dakota Supreme Court has sided with the Rapid City Journal in its battle to unseal the court records of a South Dakota legislator.
