Press Release: South Dakota Supreme Court Unanimously Rules the Attorney General Has Followed South Dakota’s Disclosure Law on the Benda Death Investigation
The Supreme Court concluded that “When the Legislature enacted the South Dakota Public Records Act in 2009, it broadened the presumption of openness in regard to public records”. However, the Court went on to opine that confidential criminal justice information is specifically made confidential by state law, and recognized that “the evidence establishes that the Attorney General took into account the public’s interest in Benda’s death and weighed that against the personal privacy interests of the Benda family.”