The G. Norton Jameson Annex at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE — A Senate panel narrowly shot down a bill to repeal the death penalty in South Dakota on Thursday.
The 4-3 vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee came after about an hour of emotional testimony from a judge who presided over a death penalty case, the widow of a slain correctional officer and multiple members of the clergy.
Senate Bill 106 came from Sen. Reynold Nesiba, D-Sioux Falls, who has sponsored similar bills in the past.
Nesiba told the committee that the proposal would not undo the death sentence of Briley Piper, the state’s only death row inmate, then deferred most of his time to supporters to make the case for why no one else should face a death sentence in South Dakota.
Sen. Reynold Nesiba, D-Sioux Falls, talks with other legislators on the House floor after Gov. Kristi Noem’s budget address on Dec. 5, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)