The South Dakota Supreme Court recently upheld the conviction of Ronald Fischer Jr., the man found guilty of vehicular homicide and other charges in the July 2013 death of Cazenovia resident Maegan Spindler.
Fischer was convicted of killing Spindler, 25, a 2006 graduate of Cazenovia High School, and her co-worker Dr. Robert Allan Klumb, 46, of Pierre, S.D., on July 8, 2013, after Fischer drove his minivan through a stop sign, continued into a hotel parking lot and hit and killed Spindler and Klumb, who had just finished a day’s work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Fischer was arrested and indicted on two counts of first degree manslaughter, two counts of vehicular homicide, one count of driving or control of vehicle with alcohol in the blood or while under the influence of alcohol or drugs and one count of ingesting non-alcoholic substance to become intoxicated. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In a Feb. 4, 2015, circuit court decision, Fischer was found guilty of two counts of vehicular homicide, a Class 3 felony, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and/or $30,000 fine, as well as one count of driving or control of vehicle with alcohol blood or while under the influence of alcohol or drug, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and one count of ingesting non-alcoholic substance to become intoxicated, also a Class 1 misdemeanor. He was under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana at the time of the incident; his blood alcohol was three times the legal limit.
Fischer was acquitted on the two first degree manslaughter charges. He was given a maximum 30 year sentence for the double vehicular homicide. Since vehicular homicide is classified as “not a crime of violence” under South Dakota law, Fischer will be eligible for parole in nine years.
Fischer appealed the circuit court decision, claiming law enforcement and hospital officials violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they drew two blood samples that later found him to have been driving under the influence at the time of the incident. The Fourth Amendment protects against unlawful search and seizures.
The South Dakota Supreme Court judges argued that since a private individual, a hospital doctor, ordered the first blood sample, the Fourth Amendment does not apply. The judges further found that the second blood sample, which Fischer contested as drawn under the direction of a police deputy without a warrant, did not require a warrant because exceptions to the warrant requirement are permissible “when the exigencies of the situation make the need of law enforcement so compelling that a warrantless search is objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”
Since losing their daughter, Greg and Susan Spindler, of Cazenovia, have been lobbying to reform South Dakota DUI laws, which they say are some of the worst in the nation. South Dakota Attorney General Jackley has proposed new legislation that would re-classify aggravated vehicular homicide as a “crime of violence” and a violent crime for purposes of setting an initial parole date. Governor Dennis Daugaard agreed to the stricter language on Feb. 4.
“It is time to make South Dakota streets safer and to hold those that take innocent life by their drunken actions more accountable,” said Jackley.
In response, Gregg Spindler said, “Our efforts to make this a public policy issue are finally making some progress. By no means are we finished.”
For more information about the Spindler family DUI reform proposals, visit sgsstat.com/sd_dui_reform_proposal.html or on Facebook at facebook.com/JusticeForRobKlumbAndMaeganSpindlerNow.
