Group calls for state’s attorney’s resignation
Chris White Eagle, the grandfather of Aiko White Eagle, speaks to Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel about his frustrations regarding his granddaughter’s death a year ago. The two-month-old’s death is under investigation, but not charges have been brought forward.
Shalom Baer Gee
About 10 minutes before 9 a.m. Tuesday, a group of around a dozen people walked into the Pennington County Administration Building on Kansas City Street and demanded the resignation of Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel for what they characterized as a lack of justice for Native Americans.
The group — which later grew to over 30 — made their way to the fourth floor where the Pennington County State’s attorney‘s Office is located and waited in the lobby with signs, including a large print out of a petition calling for her resignation.
Roetzel arrived in the lobby about 15 minutes later and nodded as Taylor Gun Hammer, an organizer at the local Native American nonprofit and activist group NDN Collective, asked for her immediate resignation “as a matter of safety for our community.”
Roetzel was sworn into her position in April after the Pennington County Board of Commissioners unanimously appointed her to replace Mark Vargo, who resigned to work overseas.
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Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel listens on Tuesday as protesters call for her resignation, citing injustice towards Native Americans.
“It’s been a long time coming, our people deserve to be treated equally as human beings,” said Hermus Bettelyoun, an action organizer at NDN Collective and the uncle of 14-year-old Nevaeh Brave Heart.
Brave Heart was killed after she was struck by a vehicle in a hit and run on Oct. 12, 2022. Brave Heart’s situation and the case of Aiko White Eagle, who died when she was two months old, took center stage in the demonstrations. Both families signed the petition, which opened with:
“We write to you today from a place of disappointment, anger, and sorrow stemming from consistent and egregious failure to uphold justice in multiple cases within the jurisdiction of the Pennington County State’s attorney‘s Office. We, the undersigned families of Native victims, demand your immediate resignation due to your blatant neglect of your responsibility to uphold ethics and principles in the pursuit of justice.”
Protesters just before 9 a.m. Tuesday walk past the designated free speech area outside the Pennington County Administration Building to call for the resignation of Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel, citing injustice towards Native Americans.
Shalom Baer Gee
Roetzel released a written statement to the Journal early in the afternoon responding to the demand she resign.
“For nearly three decades, I have worked alongside my colleagues to support ALL victims — regardless of race or other factors. I will continue to fight on behalf of victims, and I, along with the rest of the prosecutors in my office, will continue to do the right thing — even when it is not popular,” she said.
Brave Heart’s family has expressed anger and frustration with the impending resolution of the court case surrounding her death.
Jordan Hare, 28, of Rapid City, was arrested four days after Brave Heart’s death and charged with felony hit and run with injury or death. The charge carries a maximum of two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
Protesters just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday stand in the Pennington County Administration Building and demand the resignation of Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel.
Shalom Baer Gee
On Nov. 13, the state’s attorney‘s office announced it reached a plea deal with Hare in light of new evidence. He agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor obstruction and the state agreed to drop the felony charge and a misdemeanor failure to yield to a pedestrian charge. His plea hearing and sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18.
Roetzel explained that the evidence did not support the hit and run charge, and she would explain more at Hare’s upcoming hearing.
“A prosecutor would lose their bar license if they brought a case to court that didn’t have a factual basis in the law. That would be unethical. I can’t just bring charges against someone because I feel like I want to,” Roetzel said to the group.
In her written statement, she added, “We prosecute cases based on the evidence — nothing more — nothing less. To assert that we do anything differently is unequivocally false. While our duty as prosecutors is to pursue justice, it is equally imperative to uphold the ethical principles that guide out legal system. Charging a case without sufficient evidence not only jeopardizes the integrity of the legal process but undermines the very foundation of fairness and due process.”
A protestor burns stage outside the Public Safety Building in Rapid City shortly before a group of about a dozen walked into the Pennington County Administration Building and demanded the resignation of Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel.
Shalom Baer Gee
White Eagle died at two months old on Nov. 19, 2022. According to her grandfather, Chris White Eagle, she died of blunt force trauma. Chris White Eagle expressed frustration that the case has not moved along.
“We sit here today wanting justice. It’s been over a year,” he told Roetzel.
Roetzel said as soon as the case is turned over to the State’s attorney‘s Office, she will take responsibility for it. Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller told the Journal the investigation is ongoing.
Other situations the group cited included Kyle Whiting, Kasey Arehart, and Abbey Steele.
“This is not just one case or two cases. This is a whole systemic problem,” said NDN Collective Action Organizer Sunny Red Bear.
The 25-year-old Whiting was shot and killed by a Rapid City Police Department officer on May 30 on East Signal Drive in Rapid City. According to the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation’s summary report of the incident, Whiting had a lighter that looked like a pistol when he was shot.
Protesters on Tuesday sit outside the Pennington County State’s attorney‘s Office after calling for the resignation of Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel, citing injustice towards Native Americans.
Shalom Baer Gee
Police had responded to the neighborhood after a report of Whiting being at a residence the court had ordered him to stay away from. The officer was cleared of any wrongdoing.
A Pennington County jury found Kasey Arehart guilty of three counts of aggravated assault and one count of discharge of a firearm at a vehicle after he fired into a vehicle of teenagers near the Central States Fairgrounds in August 2022. Each crime carries a statutory maximum of 15 years in the state penitentiary and up to a $30,000 fine. Arehart was sentenced to 30 years in prison with 15 suspended.
“There’s a young man that you sent away for 30 years. Explain that. A young Native man you sent away for 30 years. He did not take a life. This white man took the life of my niece,” Hermus Bettelyoun said.
Arehart, whose family was unable to attend the sit-in, issued a statement through his mother and said, “if anyone deserves justice, it would be Nevaeh.”
At 11 a.m., Caylee Martinez, Aiko White Eagle’s aunt, read the petition aloud after the group sang a prayer song. After the reading and another song, the group remained in the lobby of the State’s attorney‘s Office with pillows, water and snacks.
Around 11:45 a.m., two sheriff’s deputies were guarding the door of the administration building only allowing people in with “legal business.” It is unclear when they arrived, but at about noon, they locked the building and barred anyone from entering.
On the inside, NDN Collective CEO Nick Tilsen discussed with the group who among them was willing to be arrested. Tilsen then left the building.
Shortly after that conversation, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office Captain Taylor Sperle warned the group to no longer use the drum. He said the group could stay, but if they’re disruptive, they’ll be arrested.
At 1:15 p.m., there were about 13 people left in the lobby of the State’s attorney‘s Office. One sheriff’s deputy stood in the hallway about 20 feet away.
The remaining members of the group determined they had met their goal of bringing awareness to their demands and left the building just before 1:30 p.m.
No one was arrested. It is unclear when the County Administration Building will reopen to the public.
A Pennington County Sheriff’s deputy at the Pennington County Administration Building screens people coming into the building to see if they have legal business. Law enforcement turned several people way who appeared to belong the group of protestors asking Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel to resign.
Shalom Baer Gee
Protesters just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday walk up the stairs in the Pennington County Administration Building to call for the resignation of Pennington County State’s attorney Lara Roetzel, citing injustice towards Native Americans.
Shalom Baer Gee
Contact Shalom Baer Gee at sgee@rapidcityjournal.com
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