The number of criminal filings in U.S. District Court in South Dakota was at a 10-year high last year, with a 91.3 percent conviction rate, a statistic Marty Jackley, U.S. Attorney for South Dakota, is happy with.

"Obviously I'm very pleased with the efforts of the staff and the attorneys in not only bringing these cases, but bringing them to finality with positive results," Jackley said.

U.S. Department of Justice statistics released recently said there were 613 defendants charged in South Dakota federal court between Oct. 1, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2007.

Of those, 550 have been disposed, meaning they were dismissed, acquitted, convicted or pleaded guilty.

The rest of the cases are pending.

Out of the 550 disposed cases, 502 ended in either a guilty plea or a guilty verdict, for a 91.3 percent conviction rate.

"These prosecutions reflect the combined commitment of federal, state and tribal law enforcement with the U.S. Attorney's office in maintaining a higher degree of public safety," Jackley said.

Jackley took over as U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota in July 2006.

There were 68,413 federal cases filed nationwide during fiscal year 2007, according to a report by the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. That was a 2.3 percent increase from fiscal year 2006.

Jackley said in many cases, more than one defendant is involved so he pays closer attention to the number of defendants charged.

"Certainly the more cases we prosecute requires a stronger commitment from the staff and the attorneys involved," Jackley said.

South Dakota is in the 8th District along with Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and North Dakota.

More than half of federal court cases in South Dakota involve crimes on reservations.

Those crimes will be broken out of the complete number of cases and published within the next month in what's called the Indian Country Report, Jackley said.

Jackley said between Oct. 1, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2007, there were 325 Indian Country defendants.

Of the total of 613 South Dakota defendents that year, there were 182 cases involving violent crime, 180 involving controlled substances, and 53 involving white-collar or financial crime.

Contact Katie Brown at 394-8318 or katie.brown@rapidcityjournal.com.