SD Supreme Court supports court’s decision to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole
In response to an appeal made by Wessington Springs man Mitch Caffee, the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld and agreed with Caffee’s original sentencing in a ruling handed down last Thursday, Sept. 21.
Caffee was sentenced to life on August 17, 2022 in connection with the murder of Wessington Springs woman Lorraine Redmann.
Caffee had raised two issues on appeal: 1. His sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment; 2. The circuit court abused its discretion by imposing a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Caffee’s appeal argued that the sentence handed down was cruel and unusual when compared to the defendant's lack of criminal history, and that the circuit court that handed down the original judgment abused its discretion.
“It’s not a surprise that he appealed, especially on a life sentence,” explained Jerauld County States Attorney Deach R. Koch. 'I think he had some hope it would be reduced to a term of years instead of a life sentence. The main thing he was relying on was sparse criminal history.”
The original sentence handed down last year was based on a wide range of findings, including domestic abuse and testimony from Caffee’s wife and children. Koch said that the South Dakota Supreme Court looked hard at the domestic abuse that occurred in front of the children, and the damage that would have caused for the family.
“Despite the defendant not having a prior conviction, Judge Pardy had access to all of his criminal history, everything he’s been charged with, including the charges that were dismissed and led to this case — the domestic abuse of his wife and violations of no contact orders,” explained Koch. “Statements from his wife describing the abuse she suffered for years, police reports including statements his children made to law enforcement, statements from other people involved, that all goes into the judge’s decision for sentencing. Many family members and friends submitted letters describing their fear of Mitch and the things that he’s done.”
Caffee was arrested by DCI Special Agents after fatally shooting his wife’s grandmother, Redmann, inside her home in Wessington Springs during a break-in and domestic assault on Sunday, October 24, 2021.
The Jerauld County Grand Jury convened in November 2021 charging Caffeewithfelonyoffenses including: murder in the first degree (counts 1 and 2), kidnapping in the first degree (count 3), burglary in the first degree (count 4), aggravated assault (domestic violence) (count 5), violation of no contact order (count 6), commission of a felony while armed with firearm (counts 7 and 8).
Caffee entered a guilty plea to first degree manslaughter and aggravated assault on June30,2022inconnection to Redmann’s murder. In exchange for the guilty plea to the manslaughter and aggravated assault charges, prosecutors dismissed 23 other felony charges.
“The goal with the plea agreement was to spare the family a trial but still have him subjected to a potential for life in prison,” said Koch.
Caffee was handed down the sentence of life in the state penitentiary on the first degree manslaughter conviction and 15 years in the state penitentiary on the aggravated assault conviction, with the sentences to run concurrently.
“You put that whole night together, violating the protection order, going and retrieving the gun, hiding in the bushes outside of the house, kicking in the door to immediately start assaulting his wife, all the while having a gun strapped on him, his behavior shows that he will knowingly commit any crime to get what he wanted,” Koch said. “Then when her 90-yearold grandma comes out after hearing the commotion then goes into the bedroom to call the police, he follows her and now thinks then was the time to bring the gun out and put his finger on the trigger, squeezing it when it’s pointed at her face. There’s no accident there.”
Koch also said the appeal denial took into consideration Caffee’s actions after he killed Redmann.
“All of it, including holding his wife hostage, threatening to blow up the house, calling the media to report a police standoff because he ‘thought it would be fun’ showed the court that Caffee’s rehabilitation was not a factor the court could accommodate without jeopardizing the safety and well-being of the community,” Koch added. “Judge Pardy did a good job, he checked all the boxes and painted a very accurate picture of what Mitch was doing.”
Supreme Court documents from last week close with, “Our review of the record shows that there were ample aggravating factors to support affirmance of the court’s decision to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole.”
The original case was investigated by Jerauld County Sheriff’s Office, Huron Police Department, the Highway Patrol and the Division of Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by the Jerauld County States Attorney Dedrich R. Koch and the Deputy Attorney General Brent Kempema from the SD Attorney General’s Office.