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SD Supreme Court Upholds Paul Dean Jensen's 200-Year Sentence

Victoria Wicks file photo

The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld the 200-year sentence of Paul Dean Jensen. The prison inmate was 14 when he murdered Michael Hare in Fort Pierre 20 years ago.

Jensen was sentenced to life without possibility of parole, the only penalty available to him at the time. After the U.S. Supreme Court found mandatory life sentences for juvenile murderers to be unconstitutional, Jensen came up for a new sentence hearing in June last year.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports this latest development in an ongoing story.

Credit Cara Hetland file photo
Judge John Brown listens to Dave Sinkgraven, associate pastor at Life Church in Sioux Falls, testifying for Paul Dean Jensen at the sentencing hearing held in Fort Pierre on June 2-3, 2016.

jensen_sentence_mp3.mp3
Sixth Circuit Judge John Brown pronounces sentence.

Rapid City freelancer Victoria L. Wicks has been producing news for SDPB since August 2007. She Retired from this position in March 2023.
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