Tag: Dr. Annette Bosworth

Categories
Common Sense crime and punishment nannyism responsibility

First, Do No Harm

Annette Bosworth

I wish Annette Bosworth were my doctor. Since she lives and practices medicine more than1300 miles away, in South Dakota, that’s not to be.

Sadly, the question to be answered, officially, is whether Dr. Bosworth will be permitted to provide medical care to anyone in her state. Following convictions on 12 felony counts pertaining to petitions she circulated, the South Dakota Medical Board has asked Bosworth to surrender her license.

Today, Annette appears at a hearing before the medical board regarding the ultimate resolution of her status to legally practice medicine. Announcing she would fight to try to save her license, Dr. Bosworth declared, “I just can’t give up.”

No one seems to doubt that she is a caring and capable physician. At her sentencing, Judge John Brown noted the many letters he received supporting her, mostly from patients, concluding that, “you did good work.”

Even Attorney General Marty Jackley, who prosecuted her, agreed: “I join in the court’s recognition coming from those that know Dr. Bosworth best, her medical patients, that she is capable of helping them.…”

“It’s just a terrible shame,” offered her attorney Robert Van Norman, “for her, for all of us, in a rural state, to lose permanently this woman’s talents.”

It’s difficult to remain optimistic, given that Dr. Bosworth and the state medical board have clashed again and again over the years. Yet, if the board follows the “do no harm” principle of medicine, they’ll not prevent Dr. Bosworth from regaining her license and again providing the highest quality of care to the people of South Dakota.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Printable PDF

Annette Bosworth

 

Categories
crime and punishment general freedom ideological culture

Bosworth Sentenced

Dr. Annette Bosworth

Last week, Judge John Brown sentenced Dr. Annette Bosworth, a neophyte candidate for U.S. Senate from South Dakota, to twelve concurrent two-​year prison terms … to be suspended provided she successfully completes three years of probation, pays the cost of her prosecution, and performs 500 hours of community service providing medical care to the poor.

Note: that final punishment is what she has been doing on her own for years, and is sort of why she is in this mess in the first place.

The case isn’t an innocent person being unjustly accused. I’ve met Annette Bosworth; I’m proud to call her a friend. But she wasn’t exactly innocent. She got bad advice and made a faulty decision to sign as the circulator of petitions when not every signature was affixed in her presence.

That’s a mistake. It shouldn’t be a felony.

The bigger issue? The over-​the-​top prosecution. Attorney General Marty Jackley’s heavy-​handed, multi-​felony approach sends a chilling message to anyone in South Dakota considering political participation.

More ominous is the apparent long-​running personal feud between Jackley and Bosworth. In a statement after her sentencing, Jackley declared that Bosworth had “crossed the line of exasperation.”

But it is South Dakotans who should be exasperated with the AG: “Jackley had said before her sentencing,” the Capitol Journal reported, “that he might recommend prison time depending on Bosworth’s attitude after conviction.”

Meanwhile, State Rep. Steve Hickey, a chief Bosworth accuser, appears to have committed her same sin: signing a petition as circulator and not witnessing each signature. Jackley hasn’t bothered to investigate, but defensively told reporters, “I’ve never said that I won’t look into it.”

Tellingly, Mr. Hickey just resigned his seat in the legislature.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Previous commentary:

Printable PDF

Dr. Annette Bosworth

 

Categories
crime and punishment initiative, referendum, and recall

No Part Justice

Dr. Bosworth

Dr. Annette Bosworth was convicted last week on twelve felony counts. She now faces as many as 24 years in prison, $48,000 in fines … and the likely loss of her medical license.

Her crime? She circulated six nominating petitions to get on the South Dakota ballot in 2014. Thirty-​seven people signed — at her medical office and at a Hutterite colony (where she sees patients) — while she was on a medical mission to help typhoon victims in the Philippines.

Dr. Bosworth’s sister was one.

But the affidavit on the petition reads that the circulator must actually witness each person’s signature being affixed. Bosworth should not have signed it.

Hence six counts of perjury and six more, one for each false document filed.

In court, Bosworth testified that her attorney — who legally notarized the petitions — told her she met the legal definition of a circulator.

Last month, I traveled to South Dakota to release a Citizens in Charge Foundation report on this prosecution. One key finding? While the threatened penalty is the most severe any American has ever faced in a petition-​related case, Dr. Bosworth submitted signatures of people she knew and who very much did support her. No forgery, no fraud … against the voters.

In response, the state’s largest newspaper reported that, “[Attorney General Marty] Jackley said that it’s ‘well understood in state law’ that the offenses Bosworth faces are punishable by probation and not jail time.” Then after her conviction, Jackley suggested a presumption for “either no or limited actual jail time,” adding, “but that presumption can be overcome by a defendant’s conduct.”

Annette Bosworth should be held accountable. But aiming to ruin her life isn’t any part of justice.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Printable PDF

Dr. Bosworth

 

Categories
Common Sense crime and punishment general freedom

Atrocious “Justice”

Paul Jacob

This week I traveled to South Dakota to release an 18-​page report on Attorney General Marty Jackley’s prosecution of Dr. Annette Bosworth. In less than two weeks, Bosworth goes on trial facing 12 felony counts carrying a maximum penalty of 24 years in prison and $48,000 in fines.

From my research, that’s the most severe penalty any American has ever faced on a petition-​related charge. Conversely, the transgressions alleged against Dr. Bosworth are arguably the least sinister ever prosecuted.

She had made available, at her office, petitions to place her name on last year’s GOP primary ballot … for patients and visitors to sign. During that time, the doctor traveled on a medical mission of mercy to typhoon-​devastated Philippines. While she was gone, 37 people — including her sister — signed those nominating petitions.

When Dr. Bosworth returned and the petition period came to a close, she signed as the circulator of those six petitions. But the circulator statement reads that she witnessed each signature being affixed.

So Attorney General Jackley charged her with six felony counts of filing a false document and another six for perjury.

While I empathize with Bosworth’s situation, my report was focused on the impact such an over-​the-​top prosecution has on the people of “the other Sunshine State” — the woman considering a run for public office or the fellow thinking about gathering signatures.

Our election system should be open and welcoming. Not frightening.

Petition rules must be enforced. But consistently, in a non-​partisan and reasonable way — not by coming down in a draconian, disproportionate fashion.

And not singling out someone the AG just happens to have been at odds with personally and professionally for years.

“AG” ought not stand for “Atrocity Generator.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Printable PDF

Paul Jacob

Dr. Annette Bosworth

 

 

Categories
crime and punishment insider corruption

Blood Sport Justice?

The trial of Dr. Annette Bosworth has been postponed from next week to May 18. She faces 24 years in a South Dakota prison on 12 felony counts of election fraud and perjury, as well as the loss of her medical license if convicted on even one charge.

Pursuant to her run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, Dr. Bosworth had gathered petitions, including at her office. When she traveled to the Philippines to care for those injured in a typhoon, folks back at her office continued to sign six petitions — 37 people in all, including her sister.

Dr BosworthWeeks later, the doctor signed an affidavit as the circulator of those petitions, stating that she witnessed each signature being affixed. Not true, but she did know each signer. Seems more of a mistake than a criminal act. Having garnered more than enough signatures to meet the requirement, she obviously wasn’t someone trying to cheat her way onto the ballot.

Still, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley pursues a case designed to crush not only her future in politics but also her career as a doctor.

For me, this story hits close to home. Seven years ago, a state AG launched a political war against two activists and me, the “Oklahoma 3.” Though eventually vindicated, it was scary.

The worst part? The impact on my wife and three daughters.

I know Annette is going through the same fright with her husband and three boys.

Putting Annette Bosworth, a caring doctor, a loving mother and a good, decent person, in prison — or ruining her medical career — serves only one purpose: to intimidate those people, like the doctor, who might dare step into the political arena against entrenched officials.

Politics in America isn’t supposed to be like this.

Let’s use the time between now and May 18 to help stop this injustice.*

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Action: Help Dr. Bosworth Today!