A Sixth Judicial Circuit judge is one of nine people who will be appointed to serve on South Dakota’s new Commission on Indigent Legal Services.
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven R. Jensen appointed Judge Bobbi Rank to a two-year term. He appointed Dean of the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law Neil Fulton to a four-year term and Betsy Doyle with the Minnehaha County Public Defender’s Office to a three-year term.
The Commission on Indigent Legal Services was created during the 2024 Legislative Session to oversee indigent representation services across the state. Jensen says the group will ensure the effective assistance of counsel in South Dakota’s court system where there is a right to counsel under state or federal law. He says the Commission will also oversee the new Office of Indigent Legal Services to provide statewide indigent representation services in direct appeals in criminal cases, habeas corpus appeals and abuse or neglect of a child appeal cases.
The Commission will be comprised of a total of nine people: three appointed by the Governor, three appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, one appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one appointed by the speaker of the House, and one appointed by the executive director of the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners.
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