Adelia Godfrey Articles and Alerts Archive
Forum focuses on racial disparity; Indian youths treated differently, speakers say, teen's hearing Friday
http://www.argusleader.com
Sunday, April 14, 2002
By LEE WILLIAMS Argus Leader
SISSETON - Cars in downtown were stopped and searched by police one after a
nother Friday night in this community of 2,500 as flashing red and amber li
ghts illuminated the street.
Some Sisseton-Wahpeton tribal members, especially teen-agers, said they're
tired of what they said is a regular weekend influx of law enforcement.
A public forum Friday addressed community concerns about juvenile justice a
nd police tactics, which members of the town's Dakota minority call racial
profiling.
About 40 people, mostly from the Native American community, attended the fo
rum.
Audrey Oliver, 20, an enrolled tribal member, and others say they are pulle
d over often for dirty license plates, window tints and having items dangli
ng from their rearview mirrors. And they said they think sometimes they're
pulled over for being Native American.
"I think they're all pretty shady, and I don't trust any of them, especiall
y the highway patrol," said Oliver, 20.
Forum leaders talked about establishing a fund for Native American defendan
ts and urged law enforcement officers to consider recording the race of tho
se they cite.
No members of local law enforcement were on the panel. State highway patrol
officials from the Watertown office, which is responsible for the Sisseton
area, did not return a call for comment.
Jake Thompson, Sisseton-Wahpeton vice chairman, and Jennifer Ring, executiv
e director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the Dakotas, led the fo
rum.
"Racism cuts to the very core of our being," said Shirley Duggan, a Dakota
activist who organized the event. "We must confront institutionalized racis
m every time it rears its ugly head."
Thompson said the tribal council should establish a legal trust fund for Na
tive American defendants in state and federal court, which should be used t
o retain specialized criminal defense lawyer.
"Absent that, our children will continue to be incarcerated for minor crime
s, or transferred to adult court," Thompson said. "The absence of good atto
rneys is detrimental to our people."
Duggan's daughter, Adelia Godfrey, 17, is one juvenile whose case could be
moved to adult court, where her two charges of aggravated assault carry a m
aximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
Godfrey was one of several Native American girls in the juvenile prison at
Plankinton who harmed themselves to bring attention to the conditions of th
eir confinement.
She is in custody again after police said she sprayed an officer with a fir
e extinguisher, kicked and spat.
Robert's County State's Attorney Kay Nikolas wants Godfrey's case transferr
ed to adult court.
The transfer hearing is Friday in Sisseton.
"The state's attorney denies these charges are race-based, but all you have
to do is ask any Native American child or adult in this town, and you'll f
ind out exactly what the truth is," Duggan said.
Nikolas declined comment on the activists' claim that only the cases of Nat
ive American youths are transferred to adult court.
"I can't comment on juvenile court stuff," said Nikolas, who did not attend
the forum and declined further comment.
Ring estimates 40 to 60 percent of the youths in the state's juvenile syste
m are Native American, and she said the outcome for them is different than
it is for other South Dakotans.
"Juvenile corrections is a Native issue," Ring said.
She said the ACLU considers the state's continuing practice of "grossly ove
r-incarcerating juveniles is the single greatest outrage."
She railed against state law enforcement for not recording the race of peop
le they contact or cite despite a growing national furor regarding racial p
rofiling.
"Police departments are not doing it," she said. "I wonder why?"
One local lawman, who sat through the forum but did not participate, declin
ed to comment on what he heard.
"I don't want to get into trouble," said Rodger Carlson, a Roberts County d
eputy sheriff who is running for sheriff to fill the vacancy created by She
riff Neil Long, who is retiring at the end of this term.
If elected, Carlson said he hopes to improve relations between the sheriff'
s department and the tribe.
"I certainly would," he said.
© 2002 Copyright Argus Leader.
Tribe charges double standard used
By: The Associated Press March 04, 2002
SISSETON, S.D. (AP) - Members of the Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux Tribe are accusing authorities in Roberts County
of using a double-standard in the case of a
17-year-old girl who is being held in the Roberts
County Jail.
Adelia Godfrey was arrested for misdemeanor charges
about a month ago. But she was charged with two felony
counts of aggravated assault after a fight with
officers at the jail.
Now the Roberts County state's attorney wants to
prosecute her as an adult. If convicted, she could
face up to 30 years in prison.
''At night, I get panic attacks and I worry I'll stop
breathing,'' Godfrey said. ''I get real scared and
depressed. I pray that I can go to sleep. There's no
on for me to talk to. I think I'm losing my mind.''
Tribal members, who protested Godfrey's incarceration
last week, claim American Indian youths are targeted
by police. They say Godfrey should be moved to a
tribal facility instead of an adult jail.
Law enforcement officials say Godfrey is being held in
a basement cell, which the sheriff calls ''the
dungeon,'' because there is no juvenile facility in
the area.
Roberts County State's Attorney Kay Nikolas and the
Sisseton chief of police say Indians are not treated
differently than whites.
Sisseton Police Chief Doug Flannery said Godfrey
''went ape'' at the jail, sprayed an officer with a
fire extinguisher, spit and tried to bite another
officer.
Godfrey has been charged with two counts of aggravated
assault in the incident. Each charge carries a maximum
of 15 years behind bars.
''When you kick and spit at officers, that's what you
get,'' Flannery said. ''My officer got assaulted,
sprayed with the fire extinguisher.''
But a juvenile corrections expert said she is
concerned by the conditions of Godfrey's confinement.
Marc Schindler, an attorney for the Washington,
D.C.-based Youth Law Center, said authorities should
not ignore the fact that Godfrey, whose family worries
that she may attempt suicide, has a history of harming
herself.
''If the local officials are aware of these conditions
and aware of her age and background, they're putting
themselves in serious liability by allowing her to
stay there,'' Schindler said.
©Watertown Public Opinion 2002
http://www.argusleader.com/news/Sundayfeature.shtml
Teen's jailing angers tribe
By LEE WILLIAMS
Argus Leader
published: 3/3/02
Sisseton-Wahpeton allege unfair treatment; county says charges justified
SISSETON - Adelia Godfrey spends her days alone in a dimly lit basement cell.
She is wondering whether to kill herself.
Godfrey, 17, was first arrested for misdemeanor charges nearly a month ago, but
a fight with officers at the Roberts County Jail led to two felony charges.
Now the Roberts County state's attorney wants to prosecute her as an adult. If
convicted, she could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
"At night, I get panic attacks, and I worry I'll stop breathing," Godfrey said
Thursday before a court hearing in the case. "I get real scared and depressed.
I pray that I can go to sleep. There's no one for me to talk to. I think I'm
losing my mind."
Members of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, of which Godfrey is an enrolled
member, say her case is an example of a dual system of justice in Roberts
County. The county is 68 percent white and 30 percent Native American.
Tribal members, who protested her incarceration last week, contend Native
American youth are targeted by police and want Godfrey moved to a tribal
facility instead of the adult jail.
Law enforcement officials say the girl is being held in the basement cell in
the Grant County Jail - called "the dungeon" by the sheriff who oversees it -
because there is no juvenile facility in the area that can take her.
The Roberts County state's attorney and the Sisseton chief of police say Native
Americans are treated no differently than whites. They say Godfrey "went ape"
in the jail, sprayed an officer with a fire extinguisher, spit and tried to
bite another officer. The charges fit the crime, authorities say.
Godfrey was one of several girls who cut themselves with broken light bulbs
while housed in a state juvenile prison in Plankinton.
Her thin arms are still covered with scars, some as thick as cigars. The girl's
family worries she may attempt suicide.
"She asked me ... if we have two lives," said Godfrey's mother, Shirley Duggan,
through tears. "I told her, 'No, honey, we only have just one. ... Please take
care of it.' "
Tribal members say Godfrey's case may be the most egregious example of a legal
system that preys upon tribal members, especially youth.
"There is a double standard of justice, and it's been going on a long time,"
said Jake Thompson, vice-chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe.
Nontribal law enforcement officers scrutinize the actions of Native American
youths more than non-Indian youths, and that constitutes racial profiling, he
said.
"I've been told that by my own children, and the court stats will prove that
out," Thompson said.
Statistics are not available to show the numbers of whites and Indians
prosecuted for crimes in Roberts County or elsewhere in the state.
Gov. Bill Janklow commissioned a study of race in the justice system following
a series of complaints that culminated with a meeting of the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights in Rapid City in December 1999. He criticized the report developed
from that session but asked a University of South Dakota political science
professor to study the issue. That report is due out this summer.
Thompson used a less-scientific method. Turning to the court page of the Feb.
26 edition of The Sisseton Courier newspaper, he pointed to the names of
several people convicted in Roberts County courts.
"Indian, Indian, Indian, Indian. They're almost all Indians," he said, his
finger dancing from name to name.
Robert's County State's Attorney Kay Nikolas said she does not file charges
against people based on their race.
"I charge people on the basis of the crimes that they committed," Nikolas said.
Assault on police
Shirley Duggan called the police for help with her daughter around 2 a.m. on
Feb. 9.
Adelia Godfrey had been drinking with friends and was suspected of breaking
several windows out of her own home. Her mother later learned that one of the
other youths had broken the windows.
The teen-agers scattered when they saw the police car, but officers found them
nearby and took them to the Roberts County Jail, said Doug Flannery, Sisseton's
chief of police.
"When she found out she was going to be detained, she went ape," Flannery said.
Godfrey ran from the booking area into a nearby office, grabbed a fire
extinguisher and leaped onto a desk, Flannery said. She threatened to discharge
the extinguisher at the officer - and then did.
"He had to go to the hospital," Flannery said. "He broke out in a rash."
The unnamed officer and a Roberts County deputy sheriff pulled Godfrey from the
desk, handcuffed her and placed her in a restraint chair, Flannery said.
While subduing the 98-pound girl, the officers were kicked, Flannery said.
"She tried to bite the deputy," he said. "And she spit."
Flannery said the two resulting aggravated assault charges, each of which
carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, were appropriate for the
offense.
"When you kick and spit at officers, that's what you get," he said. "My officer
got assaulted, sprayed with the fire extinguisher."
'The dungeon'
Since Roberts County has no facilities for holding juvenile offenders, Godfrey
was taken to Milbank and lodged in the Grant County Jail.
The Grant County Jail is a two-level, 16-bed facility. It has eight beds on the
ground floor and eight beds in the basement. Grant County doesn't have a
separate unit for minors but keeps juveniles in the basement unit if there are
no adult inmates housed there.
When Godfrey arrived Feb. 9, the only inmates in the jail were six adult males,
housed on the ground floor. She was placed in the basement, a poorly lighted
open bay, by herself.
Grant County Sheriff Michael McKernan has a name for the basement unit.
"We call it the dungeon," he said.
Godfrey's new living quarters are damp and dark and smell of mold. There are no
windows, and the two dim bulbs are never turned off. There's no natural light
source and no way to know whether it's day or night.
A camera tracks Godfrey's every move. When she showers, she crouches down
behind a waist-high concrete wall to limit what can be seen of her body on the
television monitor in the dispatch office.
There are no recreation or exercise facilities. Sheriff McKernan said either he
or his only deputy try to take prisoners outside, if time allows. But Godfrey
said her only exercise has been a walk to the squad car while she was being
taken to court in Sisseton last week.
McKernan has been sheriff for 12 years. The jail, which he inherited, was built
in 1972. He's tried to commence renovations, but there's no money in the
budget, he said.
"I get the heebie-jeebies when I'm down there," Godfrey said. "It's scary. The
only time I get to talk to anybody is the lunch lady, when I get my meals, and
just for a couple minutes."
The conditions of Godfrey's confinement are worrisome to one juvenile
corrections expert.
Marc Schindler is an attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based Youth Law Center.
His firm successfully sued the state and spawned major changes in its juvenile
corrections program after the death of Gina Score at the girls boot camp in
Plankinton.
Given Godfrey's history of self-harm, Schindler had a warning for the state's
attorney and law enforcement in Sisseton.
"If the local officials are aware of these conditions and aware of her age and
background, they're putting themselves in serious liability by allowing her to
stay there," Schindler said. "They're facing major liability issues...
"She needs to be moved immediately."
The protest
Godfrey's first court appearance last Thursday morning was accompanied by a
small protest outside the courthouse and a Dakota drum group from Agency
Village.
Roberts County Sheriff Neil Long led Godfrey into the courtroom. She was
wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and leg shackles.
Thursday was juvenile court day, and the courtroom was full of children and
their families. Circuit Judge Jon Flemmer was halfway through explaining their
constitutional rights when the drum group started outside the courtroom.
Godfrey's 13-year-old sister entered the courtroom carrying one of the protest
signs and was quickly ushered out by Sheriff Long.
The hearing was brief. Godfrey was appointed an attorney and told she would
remain in the Grant County Jail until her next hearing Thursday. There is no
bail.
The state's attorney said Godfrey should remain in custody "for her own
protection and the protection of society."
Godfrey's mother told the court that her daughter was not a flight risk because
she was unemployed, had no money and all of her relatives lived in the Sisseton
area. "Milbank is cruel and unusual punishment," Duggan told the court. "It
doesn't make any sense to me."
Godfrey burst into tears when Flemmer ruled she would be returned to the Grant
County Jail.
In an interview after the hearing, Flemmer said he has seen no evidence of
racial profiling during his time on the bench.
"There isn't anything I've seen in Roberts County that leads me to believe that
law enforcement is out there selecting who they prosecute or arrest," he said.
"It's obvious there may be some societal problems."
Magistrate Judge Tony Portra holds court in Sisseton every Tuesday. Portra's
father is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe in North
Dakota.
"I would say there's an inordinate amount of Native Americans in court compared
to the percentage of Native Americans in the community," Portra said. "I don't
know why. I don't see any evidence of (racial profiling) in court, but I'm not
out following the officers around."
Chief Flannery said his officers don't profile by race. "We have a policy
against it," he said.
But Godfrey said Native American youths get labeled by the town's police and,
once labeled, are subjected to harassment.
Flannery disagreed.
"We understand the kids that we're having a lot of trouble with, and when
they're around, we keep an eye on them," he said. "But we don't label anyone."
'Nothing else I can do'
Shirley Duggan wonders why her daughter faces years in prison when another teen
killed a youth and was charged with only driving while intoxicated. "It's a
double standard," she said.
In August 2000, Justin Redday, a tribal member, was struck and killed on a
rural road by a white teen. A grand jury indicted the driver for vehicular
homicide, but then-State's Attorney Kerry Cameron dismissed the count and
charged the driver in juvenile court with drunken driving.
Cameron lost his job as Robert's County state's attorney to Nikolas in the
November 2000 election. He is now the court-appointed defense attorney for
Roberts County, though he was not given Godfrey's case.
Della Eastman, who founded the Eastern Dakota Chapter of the American Indian
Movement in Sisseton, organized protests after Redday was killed. She sat
through Godfrey's hearing with Darlene Pipeboy, Godfrey's great-aunt.
"I see the court as being one-sided. There's a dual justice system here,"
Eastman said. "They try (tribal) members differently than non-Indians. I don't
agree with the court's decision."
Pipeboy, a respected elder, also is concerned about the result of the hearing.
"The racial profiling offsets the feeling the youth should have that they're a
member of the community," Pipeboy said. "They can't come and go as they
please."
Godfrey was fatalistic about what transpired.
"I have to accept the court's decision," she said. "There's nothing else I can
do."
Rose Chase, 66, is one of several of Godfrey's surrogate grandmothers.
"All of this is repetitive," she said. "When I was young, the Indian agents
used to chase me around and bring me home. My mother, who didn't speak English,
worried about me. Eventually, they put me in Plankinton, just like Adelia
(Godfrey)."
Said Pipeboy: "The Dakota word for children - wakaneja - means sacred people.
That's how we as a people feel about our youth. But this perspective is not
heard in a courtroom, where Indians are looked upon as troublemakers."
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