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State opposes man's bid to change life sentence
• FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- State prosecutors say last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles does not apply retroactively to a South Dakota man who is challenging his sentence for a slaying committed when he was 14 years old.
• Paul Dean Jensen Jr., of Pierre, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole after he was convicted of murder, kidnapping and other offenses for the 1996 killing of cab driver Michael Hare near Fort Pierre. Jensen, now 31, argues his sentence is illegal under last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
• The Supreme Court said life sentences without parole for juveniles cannot be automatic, but it left open the possibility that judges could still sentence juveniles to life without parole after considering the circumstances of each case.
• Jensen filed a request last month asking that a circuit judge declare his sentence illegal so he can be resentenced.
• The South Dakota attorney general's office and Stanley County State's Attorney Tom P. Maher have filed a motion opposing Jensen's request for a new sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling banning mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles does not apply retroactively to cases such as Jensen's, the prosecutors argue.
• A judge has not set a hearing on Jensen's request for a new sentence.
• Prosecutors said Jensen and Shawn Cameron Springer, who was 16 at the time, had Hare drive them out of town and they robbed the cab driver of $36.48 before shooting him to death. Prosecutors said Jensen pulled the trigger.
• Springer was sentenced to 261 years in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping, and in June a judge refused to reduce his sentence.
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Authorities arrest 7 men on underage sex charges
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Federal, state and Rapid City authorities say they've arrested seven men on charges of trying to pay for sex with underage girls after responding to online classified ads placed during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
• Records show that 29-year-old Scott Faulk, of Grand Junction, Colo. 19-year-old Miguel Aguilar, of Brighton, Colo., 43-year-old Michael Francis Fox Jr., of Owings, Md., and 54-year-old Timothy Gravens of Grapevine, Texas, were each charged in U.S. District Court with attempting to entice a person under 18 into a commercial (Continued on page 19)
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