I almost always try to stay away from criminal cases on my site, ‘try’. But since this has to do with the city, and the ‘infamous’ city attorney’s office that couldn’t defend themselves out of a wet paper bag, I thought I would comment.
Assistant Sioux Falls City Attorney Keith Allenstein has been charged with drunk driving.
Court documents filed on June 27 show Allenstein was arrested on June 14 in Minnehaha County for DUI.
He was pulled over by the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office is now prosecuting the case. In most cases, if there is a conflict of interest with the local state’s attorney’s office the Attorney General’s Office will take up the case.
City Attorney David Pfiefle confirmed the arrest saying that his office is ‘monitoring the situation’ and does not ‘condone drinking and driving.’
Allenstein currently advises the Sioux Falls Police Department and Sioux Falls Fire Rescue on legal matters. He still is working in that role according to Pfiefle.
“We are going to allow the state proceeding to play out,†Pfiefle said in a phone conversation. “It’s too soon to know if any changes need to be made.â€
While I do agree with Fiddle-Faddle, that this should be played out in court, and not the court of public opinion (You CAN fail a breathalyzer and pass a blood test) there is a possibility that Keith is innocent, we should let the court decide.
BUT, where I disagree is that Keith is still advising the PD and FD. He should be taken off of those duties until after the verdict, but remain working. There seems to be this attitude with the Huether administration, do as I say, not as I do. But since when has Huether cared about bad PR? 🙂
If Keith is found guilty, he should be terminated, or at least his PD and FD duties taken away from him. I had the same argument when Janklow hit Randy Scott, while I didn’t care if Janks got any jail time, I certainly thought his law license and driver’s license should NOT have been given back to him. If you can’t follow the law, how can you be expected to practice it?
Ultimately how do you advise the PD and FD on legal matters, when you can’t even follow the law yourself? Seems a bit hypocritical to me.