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| Former S.D. Gov. Pardons Inmate Who Died During Storm Cleanup |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/07/2003 |
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An inmate who was electrocuted as he helped clean up from a storm that hit Sinai last summer is among those pardoned by former Gov. Bill Janklow. Neil Ambrose and other prison inmates were sent to the eastern South Dakota town last July to remove tree limbs and other debris from the storm. The 22-year-old was killed by a downed power line as he fought a fire on a farm near Sinai. He had been serving a two-year sentence for third-degree burglary. Janklow, now a member of the U.S. House, has acknowledged pardoning an undisclosed number of people as his administration came to a close last year. He has decided not to talk about most of the pardons because of a 1983 state law that sealed them. The law is now being disputed in court and has been revised by the state Legislature. Janklow, however, agreed to discuss the Ambrose case with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Janklow said he learned a lot about Ambrose after his death. 'He had no next of kin. Legally, yes, but not in a realistic way. He never got a phone call or letter while he was in prison. He was truly alone,' said Janklow. 'I was personally involved in calling his relatives. His father had remarried, and I left several messages for him. I never got a call back. I found a grandmother who had no real interest in him. 'I felt this guy had no one in the world to turn to. He was a good prisoner. He turned himself in while they were looking for him, and he turned state's evidence. So I pardoned him,' Janklow said. After the crime, Ambrose called Codington County authorities from Missouri to turn himself in, Terry Sutton, Ambrose's court-appointed lawyer, said. He got on a bus and when he arrived in Watertown, called authorities to pick him up. 'He wanted to come clean with everything from the get-go. I have been doing this since 1981 and it was the first client I ever had that wanted to do it this way,' Sutton said. 'He wasn't really educated. He dropped out of school, but after that, he made a real effort to turn himself around.' Not everyone thinks the posthumous pardon was appropriate. Bruce Cozad, owner of Cozy's, said he still is paying the price as a victim, waiting for the return of his stolen merchandise. 'It bothers me a little bit that he got pardoned,' Cozad said. 'Right now I just want my stuff back.' |
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