William “Wild Bill” Janklow was the governor of South Dakota for sixteen years, longer than anyone in the state’s history. Before governor, he was Attorney General of South Dakota. After he was governor, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, resigning in 2004 after being convicted of manslaughter in a car accident.
In 1967, when Jancita Eagle Deer was fifteen she went to her high school counselor and told him that she had been raped by William Janklow, as he drove her home from babysitting . Allegedly, the Bureau of Indian Affairs sent the police investigation files to it Aberdeen office to keep the investigation away from Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court. In 1974, she petitioned the tribe to disbar Janklow from practicing law. The tribal court issued a misdemeanor arrest warrant for Janklow. but he did not live on the reservaton. No arrest was made. Janklow denied all allegations and no criminal charges were filed. He sued Newsweek and Peter Matthiessen who included the story in his book “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.” He lost both suits.
Jancita Eagle Deer’s allegation was backed up by her high school counselor, her foster parents, a rape examination, and the BIA investigator. He was disbarred by the Tribal Court for rape, but never prosecuted and began his political career a decade later.
- Fortnight: Bad News from the Black Hills
- The CreepSheet: Bill Janklow
29 Oct 1974