JUNE 2024:
A Wagner man has pleaded guilty but mentally ill and has been sentenced for threatening two public officials.
Jason Shields, 40, entered guilty pleas Friday (June 28, 2024) in Charles Mix County Circuit Court to one count of Threatening the Governor and one count of Threatening a Judge. The charges occurred in October 2022.
Prosecutors had requested that Shields be sentenced to the maximum of 10 years in prison. Shields was sentenced to five years in prison on each count and credit for 614 days already served. All jail time was suspended, and he was placed on probation for four years.
The court based its decision on Senate Bill 70, which was approved by the 2013 South Dakota Legislature, and which determined that a probationary sentence should be presumed for non-violent offenders. Prosecutors argued that Shields was a danger to the community and not entitled to presumptive probation.
“Threatening the Governor and a Judge are serious offenses, and ones that will be prosecuted,” said Attorney General Marty Jackley. “The use of Senate Bill 70 in this manner speaks to the need for the upcoming Legislature to consider changes to the presumptive probation statute.”
The South Dakota Highway Patrol and the Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Office first responded to the threats. The case was handled by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Wagner Police Department, and Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Office.
Prosecution was handled by the Attorney General’s Office.
DECEMBER 2022:
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota man is charged with threatening a state official and judge after he allegedly faxed a message to a local TV station saying he planned to kill Gov. Kristi Noem and allegedly emailed a threat to a judge.
Jason Shields was arrested in October shortly after the threats were made, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported. He is charged with a pair of felonies that each carry a maximum five-year prison sentence.
According to court documents, Shields sent a one-page fax to a TV station on Oct. 23, 2022, saying he and several others were planning to kill the Republican governor soon. Law enforcement arrested Shields that day. He later told law enforcement officers that he had acted alone, court documents say.
Shield also told officers that a day earlier he had emailed Magistrate Judge Donna Bucher that he wanted her killed because he felt she had made decisions that were not “appropriate or just,” according to court documents.
Shields has not yet entered a plea. His attorney, Sandy Steffen, declined to comment on the charges.
Both the governor’s security team and South Dakota’s court system increased their security protocols after the threats.
