It was widely reported yesterday that on Tuesday of this week, the South Dakota Supreme Court this week affirmed the conviction and sentence imposed on Lucian Celestine, the would-be assassin of President Trump when he visited Mount Rushmore in July, 2020.  Celestine’s criminal case was prosecuted in state court, not federal court. It was lodged in the 7^th Judicial Circuit, Pennington County. The initial trial resulted in a hung jury in August, 2023, resulting in a mistrial. Thereafter, Celestine entered a guilty plea to making an Attempted Threat of Felony Terrorism, in violation of SDCL 22-8-13.  Sentencing was imposed by (then) Circuit Judge Robert Gusinsky in March, 2024, resulting in a sentence of two and one-half years in prison, with Celestine being given credit for time served of 287 days.  Judge Gusinsky was appointed to a new position as Associate Justice for the South Dakota Supreme Court last November.  

The Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday may be a bit difficult to find. This is because the appeal was handled as a routine housekeeping matter, with a summary affirmance.  The Court did not provide a full opinion on the matter, but rather simply entered an order which stated, “having considered all of the briefs with the appeal record, and having concluded that it is manifest on the face of the briefs and the record that the appeal is without merit,” and proceeded to enter a summary affirmance.  The Court’s comments are confined to one paragraph and the entire ruling is contained on one page.  

A prior media report indicates that Judge Gusinsky asked Celestine if he wished to say anything before he was sentenced and that his response was, “Your honor, I just don’t like child rapists, and that’s all I’ll say about that.”   Man charged for threatening to kill President Trump is sentenced (KOTA Territory News).

The Supreme Court’s ruling was unanimous (5-0), signed by Chief Justice Jensen.  The record reflects that Circuit Judge Jon Sogn participated in this decision, in lieu of Justice Gusinsky who, as indicated above, was the trial judge. A copy 0f the Supreme Court’s Order may be obtained by sending an e-mail request to rogermbaron@gmail.com .