Lincoln County prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty of a Sioux Falls man accused of killing a woman after she was leaving work in January.
Lincoln County State's Attorney Tom Wollman said Thursday that his office intends to seek the death penalty against Amir Hasan Beaudion Jr., 20, should he be found guilty by a jury of murder charges in connection to the death of Pasqalina Esen Badi.
The case meets multiple aggravating circumstances needed to be a capital case, Wollman said.
The aggravating circumstances here, Wollman said, include: that the crime was committed for the purpose of receiving money or any other thing of monetary value; the offense was outrageously or wantonly vile; and that the offense was committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with, or preventing arrest.
Only a Class A felony – like premeditated first-degree murder – is eligible for the death penalty in South Dakota. Should a defendant be found guilty, a jury would decide whether to recommend a sentence of death.
The notice of intent was filed Wednesday afternoon, the deadline given to prosecutors to inform the courts and defense if they planned on pursuing the death penalty. The decision came after "a thorough review of our case, applicable case law, and meetings with Pasqalina’s family," Wollman said.
Badi, 20, was leaving her work at Walmart near Arrowhead Parkway early Jan. 5 when surveillance video caught a man following her to her vehicle, get into the car with her and drive off.
She was reported missing the next day and her body was found later that day in Lincoln County. A preliminary autopsy ruled that her death, asphyxia by manual strangulation, was a homicide, police said Jan. 9.
Beaudion was indicted on 15 felony charges in relation to the death of Badi, including multiple counts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, second-degree rape and second-degree robbery.
Beaudion, who was 19 when charged in connection to Badi's death, has said in front of a judge that he was innocent.
"I ain't do (expletive)," Beaudion said in January after he was arraigned in a separate attempted kidnapping case out of Minnehaha County. At that hearing, defense attorneys in that case were made aware he was being charged with murder in Badi's death.
Beaudion was taken into custody late evening on Jan. 6 on the Minnehaha County charges unrelated to Badi's death. He was named by police as a person of interest in Badi's death in early January, but wasn't charged in the case until Jan. 27. He has remained in custody in the Minnehaha County Jail.
Prosecutors must provide the defense all discovery, or evidence, which will likely include DNA testing results and cell phone data, by July 15. After that point, a more realistic trial date could be set, said Second Circuit Court Presiding Judge Robin Houwman, who appeared via Zoom from the Minnehaha County courthouse. Concerns around the ongoing coronavirus pandemic could affect timing of the trial. Wollman estimated at a previous court date that the trial could take at least one month.
Briley Piper is the only inmate on death row in South Dakota after Charles Rhines was executed in November. Piper, 39, was sentenced to death for the beating murder of 19-year-old Chester Allen Page in 2000 in Deadwood. Piper's co-defendant, Elijah Page, was executed in 2007.
Source: argusleader.com, Danielle Ferguson, July 2, 2020
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
