Ted Klaudt - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ted Alvin Klaudt is a farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

, ranch

Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

er, convicted rapist

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

, and former Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

member of the South Dakota House of Representatives

South Dakota House of Representatives

The South Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Dakota State Legislature. It is made up of 70 members, two from each legislative district...

(1999–2006) from Walker

Walker, South Dakota

Walker is an unincorporated community in Corson County, South Dakota, United States. Although not tracked by the Census Bureau, Walker has been assigned the ZIP code of 57659.- Notable residents :* Former state legislator Ted Klaudt...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. In November 2007 he was convicted of four counts of raping

Rape

his two foster daughter

Foster care

Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

Legislative career

Klaudt was a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

member of the South Dakota House of Representatives

South Dakota House of Representatives

The South Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Dakota State Legislature. It is made up of 70 members, two from each legislative district...

from 1999 to 2006 when he was "termed out" of his seat and decided to run for state Senate

South Dakota Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the South Dakota State Legislature. It is made up of 35 members, one representing each legislative district, and meets at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre.-Composition:-Officers:-Members of the 86th Senate:...

. He was defeated by Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

ic challenger Ryan Maher

Ryan Maher

Ryan M. Maher is a Republican member of the South Dakota Senate, representing the 28th district since 2006.-External links:* official SD Senate website* profile*Follow the Money - Ryan M Maher** campaign contributions...

. His House seat was filled by Betty Olson.

While in office, Klaudt co-sponsored several bills that regulated sex offender

Sex offender

A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...

s, including "community safety zones", prohibiting sex offenders from residing, working, or entering within 500 feet of schools, public parks and swimming pools. He also co-sponsored the bill that required South Dakota to be included

Sex offender registration

Sex offender registration is a system in various states designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the residence and activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions , information in the registry is made available to the...

in the National Sex Offender Registry

National Sex Offender Registry

The National Sex Offender Registry is a Canadian legal data base designed to monitor convicted sex offenders living in the country. It came into force on December 15, 2004, with the passing of the Sex Offender Information Registration Act...

, a bill that requires the Department of Social Services to inform parents about abuse

Child abuse

Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

or neglect

Child neglect

Child neglect is defined as:# "the failure of a person responsible for a child’s care and upbringing to safeguard the child’s emotional and physical health and general well-being"...

involving their children in state custody, and a bill (defeated) that would have prohibited the distribution of birth control

Birth control

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

to high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

students.

Indictment and arrest

On May 19, 2007, Klaudt was arrested over allegations that he had raped and sexually abused

Child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...

his foster daughters, 17 and 19 years old at the time. He was charged with eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor

Child pornography

Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...

, two counts of witness tampering

Witness tampering

Witness tampering is harming or otherwise threatening a witness, hoping to influence his or her testimony.-Witness tampering in the USA:In the United States, the crime of witness tampering in federal cases is defined by statute at , "Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant"...

, sexual contact with a person under 16

Statutory rape

The phrase statutory rape is a term used in some legal jurisdictions to describe sexual activities where one participant is below the age required to legally consent to the behavior...

(South Dakota's age of consent

Age of consent

While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...

), and stalking

Stalking

Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...

, charges stemming from his activities in Corson

Corson County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,181 people, 1,271 households, and 949 families residing in the county. The population density was 1.7 people per square mile . There were 1,536 housing units at an average density of 0.6 per square mile...

and Hughes

Hughes County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 16,481 people, 6,512 households, and 4,310 families residing in the county. The population density was 22 people per square mile . There were 7,055 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile...

counties.

Klaudt entered no plea

Plea

In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a civil or criminal case under common law using the adversary system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a criminal defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response to a criminal charge, whether that...

during his two court appearance

In open court

In open court is a legal term in the United States defined by the appearance by a party or their attorney in a public court session such as during a trial...

s following his arrest, so the judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

entered not guilty pleas on his behalf, setting his bail bond at 100,000; Klaudt posted the required ten percent to make bail

Bail

Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...

. On June 15, he was formally indicted

Indictment

An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

on four felony

Felony

A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

counts of second-degree rape by the grand jury

Grand jury

A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...

in Hughes County

Hughes County, South Dakota

; he entered a not guilty plea to the indictment July 11.

Trial and conviction

Klaudt's trial

Trial (law)

In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...

on these charges started October 30, 2007 at the Hughes County Courthouse. On November 7, the defense rested and the 12-person jury

Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...

retired to deliberate. Three hours later, the jury convicted Klaudt on all four counts of second-degree rape. He was sentenced on January 17, 2008, to 44 years in prison: 11 years per count, to be served consecutively. Klaudt pleaded guilty to witness tampering

Witness tampering

, and was sentenced to an additional ten years' imprisonment.

"Copyrighting" his name

In December 2009, Ted Klaudt sent a "Common Law Copyright Notice" to the Associated Press and various state media outlets warning that use of his name, Ted Klaudt, without permission is a violation of a common-law copyright of a trade name or trademark and could result in a judgment against the offender of up to US$500,000. Laura Malone, associated general counsel for intellectual property at The Associated Press, noted that the names of individuals, including Ted Klaudt, cannot be protected under copyright law. The resulting publicity made his case more famous than ever, a syndrome sometimes termed the "Streisand effect

Streisand effect

The Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.