Noem commutes sentences for two convicted of murder

Gov. Kristi Noem commuted the sentences of two people convicted of murder and issued 45 more pardons since February.
Since taking office in 2019, Noem has commuted the sentences of 27 people and pardoned 341.
Her first commutation of the summer was granted to 70-year-old John Proctor  July 24.
Proctor has served 51 years in prison for killing Meade County rancher Arlon Hamm. Proctor had been carrying on an affair with Hamm’s stepmother, Billie Jean Hamm, with whom he’d plotted to kill Arlon Hamm. Billie Jean Hamm, now deceased, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.
The South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended a commutation for Proctor last fall. The parole board had also recommended a commutation for Proctor in 2021.  
Noem denied Proctor’s 2021 clemency request in a letter dated March 15, 2022.
The recently approved commutation reduces Proctor’s sentence from life in prison to 410 years. With credit for time served and good behavior, Proctor will be eligible for parole next July.
Noem’s most recent commutation went to 45-year-old Renee Eckes on Aug. 21, less than two months after her appearance before the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles. Her commutation was previously reported by The Dakota Scout.
Eckes had been serving a life sentence; her sentence was reduced to 45 years. She will be eligible for parole in September of 2027 the commutation says.
The board unanimously recommended that Noem issue a commutation for Eckes after its July meeting. The board reviews clemency applications, but Noem has the final say on the recommendations.
Noem has also issued commutations for people who didn’t follow the formal process of applying to the board. Most recently, in December, Noem commuted the sentences of 12 women convicted of felony drug ingestion, a charge unique to South Dakota that can land a person in prison for having illicit substances in their system. None of the women made their case before the parole board.
Eckes was 19 years old when she and 17-year-old Jessi Owens killed David Bauman with a hammer during a burglary attempt. The pair entered Bauman’s Watertown home in search of cash, but he came home and caught them in the act, setting up the physical altercation that ended his life. Owens grabbed a hammer and struck Bauman, after which Eckes picked it up and continued to strike him.
Owens’ life sentence was reduced after a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional. She was released in 2018.
On the pardons side, Noem issued 45 between July 2 and Aug. 21, signing them in batches July 2, July 24, July 26 and Aug. 21.
Pardons permanently erase old charges from a person’s criminal record. Because the state constitution grants sole authority for clemency to the governor, pardons represent the only pathway for South Dakotans to clear their record of old charges for which they were convicted or pleaded guilty. Pardons are sealed after five years.
The summer pardons cover a range of crimes, including DUIs, controlled substance possession and burglary, among others, as well as a 39-year-old aggravated assault conviction.
Prior to July, Noem’s most recent batch of pardons were signed on Feb. 23.
On that same date, Noem signed four commutation denial letters, including one for Rex Gard, convicted of grand theft by embezzlement and sentenced to 65 years. Two members of the parole board, which voted 8-1 to recommend a commutation, called the sentence “excessive” during his clemency hearing in the summer of 2023.
As of April, Noem had signed nine denial letters in total, according to records released at the request of South Dakota Searchlight.
Noem’s office did not immediately respond to a request for any new denial letters issued since April. Spokesman Ian Fury also did not respond to questions on Noem’s reversal in the Proctor situation or her swiftness in acting upon the Eckes commutation recommendation.
One week after inking a second commutation in as many months for a person convicted of murder, Gov. Kristi Noem denied sentence reduction requests for two men serving time on theft charges.
Noem sent the denial letters Wednesday to 78-year-old Elmos Hopkins and 46-year-old James Pasek.
Hopkins picked up two five-year sentences for grand theft and one 50-year sentence for burglary in Lincoln County in 2012. His initial parole date is set for August of 2037.
Pasek was sentenced to life in prison as a habitual thief in 2003 based on an armed robbery conviction in Lawrence County and multiple previous grand theft convictions.
The two letters are among eight clemency denial letters signed this year by Noem’s office. Over the summer, she denied a commutation request from Edward Flad, serving time for a Brown County child pornography conviction. It’s the second time Noem has denied clemency for Flad.
Each denial came in response to a clemency recommendation by the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles. The board reviews requests for commutations, which reduce a current inmate’s sentence, and for pardons, which clear old charges from a person’s record entirely. If a majority of its nine members vote to recommend clemency, the recommendation heads to the governor’s desk.
Under the South Dakota Constitution, only the governor can issue pardons or commutations.
Noem has signed 17 denial letters for pardons and commutations since taking office according to her office’s response to multiple public records requests throughout 2024.
Her first commutation denial letter was sent in March of 2022 to Proctor, who killed the stepson of his lover in Meade County in 1972.
On Wednesday, the governor signed an updated version of Eckes’ commutation, provided to South Dakota Searchlight by the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office. Unlike the commutation for Eckes signed last week, the Wednesday version notes that Eckes’ separate five-year forgery sentence will now run concurrent with her sentence for murder, which has been reduced from life to 45 years. Eckes will be eligible for parole in September of 2027 on the murder charge. The adjustment to the forgery sentence in her new commutation means she will be able to request parole at that time, and not five years later.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the change to Eckes’ commutation or on the denials issued over the summer.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. See more at southdako
tasearchlight.com.