Civil trial stemming from Janklow accident going to trial SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Attorneys have failed to reach a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a fatal crash caused by former South Dakota Rep. Bill Janklow, so a federal judge in Minnesota will decide how much the victim's family is owed. Both sides met Wednesday for nearly three hours at U.S. District Court in Minneapolis but couldn't resolve it, according to courtroom minutes and one of the lawyers. Randy Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn., was killed Aug. 16, 2003, when his Harley-Davidson hit the back of the Cadillac Janklow drove through a stop sign at an intersection near Trent. Scott was killed instantly. Janklow was injured. Scott's family sued the United States for $25 million after the U.S. attorney in Minnesota concluded Janklow was on official business at the time of the crash -- which makes the federal government responsible for any damages. By March 1, both sides need to be ready to go to trial, which is expected to last three days. It will be in front of a judge, not a jury, said Ronald Meshbesher, the Minneapolis attorney for Scott's family. "We're just ready and alert from that point on," he said. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis said federal prosecutors could not comment. Janklow, who has returned to private practice as a lawyer, was a dominating force in South Dakota politics for 30 years. After serving as attorney general, the Republican was governor for 16 years, serving four terms in two separate eight-year stints. In 2002, he was elected as South Dakota's only member of the House. Janklow has diabetes and testified he had not eaten the day of the accident and likely blacked out when he approached the intersection. A jury in his boyhood home of Flandreau convicted him of second-degree manslaughter in December 2003. He resigned from Congress a month later, served 100 days in jail, paid a $5,000 fine, temporarily lost his law license and was forbidden from driving during his probation. He finished his sentence in the Minnehaha County Jail in May 2004. His three-year probation ended Jan. 22, 2007. Because Janklow was given a suspended imposition of sentence, his criminal record was cleared.
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