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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Governor Rounds Pardons Rapist

I'm not trying to create a muckraking headline here: I'm simply passing along information from the state itself and from KELO. Governor Rounds has issued four more pardons. The fourth recipient on the list today:

Hanson, Terry
Rape 2nd Degree Butte County
April 25, 1985 Eighteen (18) months Penitentiary
["Rounds Issues Four More Pardons," KELOLand.com, 2008.04.01]

I assume this means the individual pardoned no longer has to be listed on the state sex offender registry... which is perhaps fortunate for him, since his record there today lists his registrant status as "non-compliant."

Anyone know the story on this pardon? The registry says this individual was 20 when he raped a 15-year-old girl. KELO says he served 18 months in the state penitentiary. Given how hard our state is on sex offenders of all stripes, this individual must have a remarkable story to win the governor's pardon.

4 comments:

  1. I know nothing about this, but I'd suspect that this was a case of statutory rape, given the ages of the rapist and victim.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nope, it couldn't be statutory rape. According to SDCL, if the victim is 13 but less than 16 years of age (and the perp is at least three years older than the victim), it's fourth degree rape. Second degree, which Terry Hanson was convicted--and now pardoned--of is rape "through the use of force, coercion, or threats of immediate and great bodily harm against the victim or other persons within the victim's presence, accompanied by apparent power of execution." Oh, and the victim was also 15.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Erin, you need to look at how the law read in 1985

    ReplyDelete
  4. Got a law book handy, Anon? Feel free to post the 1985 version of the statute.

    ReplyDelete

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