SD Attorney General Reacts to Huber Murder Retrial

by Melissa Payne
July 29, 2010


A former police chief, who was convicted of killing his wife in a Highmore, South Dakota home, will be getting a new trial.

Ken Huber was sentenced to life in prison for the 2007 shooting. During a mandatory appeal, the South Dakota supreme court throughout the circuit court's decision.

A Hyde County jury found Ken Huber guilty of first degree murder nearly three years ago, for the death of his wife Pam, inside their home.  

But now, the South Dakota Supreme Court says whether the shooting was accidental or intentional it still needs to be determined.

"When you look at both the challenges that both the attorneys and the trial judge face in a case of this nature, there's a lot of difficult decisions that need to be made," said SD Attorney General, Marty Jackley.
    
Court documents show Huber was involved in an extramarital affair with the Hyde County state's attorney at the time of the shooting. During court testimony, the State of South Dakota argued that as the former chief of police Huber was well-trained with handguns and that Huber shot his wife in the forehead on purpose.

The defense argued that the gun accidentally discharged as he tried to put a gun safe on the weapon.  During the trail, the court refused expert testimony in Huber's defense, that well trained officers do accidentally discharge their weapons.

According to the supreme court justice's opinion, the circuit judge made a mistake when he didn't allow this evidence.

"At this point, I think the case can be retried with a little more precision based on some of the guidance contained in that supreme court decision," said Jackley.

With all the publicity surrounding this case, questions arise as to where this trial will be held, where the jury pool will come from, and how much money a second trial will cost.

"When you have a case of this nature, a murder case, obviously we need to be careful with the taxpayers money, but it's our position that a case needs to be resolved on behalf of the state and on behalf of the victims," said Jackley.
 
The South Dakota attorney general says the case will be presented in front of 12 new jurors to decide the fate of Huber again, as soon as it is practical.

KDLT spoke with Minnehaha County judge Larry Long, who was the attorney general at the time of this trial. He declined to give reaction about the supreme court's decision because he says it's still a pending case, and as a judge in a different county, a comment at this time would not be appropriate.

m_payne@kdlt.com