Takeaways and more details from the trial of two Mitchell baseball officials

Apr. 19—MITCHELL — The gray areas surrounding the state's mandatory sexual abuse reporting law emerged as a key argument during Wednesday's trial that resulted in longtime Mitchell baseball coach Luke Norden being found not guilty and the dismissal of a charge against former board president Jeremy Borgan.

The trial revealed the Mitchell School District's policy for mandatory reporting was slightly different from the state's mandatory reporting law.

Pennington County Deputy State's Attorney Roxanne Hammond highlighted the state law says mandatory reporters must immediately report an incident, while defense attorneys pointed out the Mitchell School District's mandatory reporting policy says a report must be made within 24 hours after learning of a report.

"The State believes that the mandatory reporting obligation extends past merely when a mandatory reporter is at work. Our most respected and hallowed professions accept the responsibility of protecting children, even outside of their office hours. We believe that the actions perpetrated against the victims in this case rose to the level of mandatory reporting, and we fulfilled our obligations to the community in bringing forth charges. We do respect the decision of the Court, and we hope there can be some clarity to these statutes in the future," Hammond said in a statement following Wednesday's trial.

Prosecutors also argued that mandatory reporters are required to contact law enforcement or the Department of Social Services immediately after being presented with a report of an incident involving a child being harmed. The Mitchell School District's policy does not require a report to be made directly to law enforcement.

Mitchell Superintendent Joe Childs, who testified during the trial, said the school's policy allows a teacher to report an incident to a supervisor, administration or school counselor.

However, the American Legion

Risk Management Guidebook

, which focuses on abuse but was not utilized or referred to during the trial, says "In all cases involving any reasonable suspicion that child abuse has occurred, a report must immediately, but no longer than 24 hours (per federal guidelines), be made to law enforcement authorities and notification to the youth participant's parent(s) or guardian(s). This reporting responsibility may not be abdicated to another individual."

During Wednesday's trial, Norden's attorney Clint Sargent pointed to evidence that showed Norden reported a June 2023 incident within 24 hours of being made aware of it to then Mitchell Baseball Association Board President Jason Christensen and board member Tim Bottum.

Here are other key details from Wednesday's trial:

*

Before the trial began Wednesday morning, Pennington County State's Attorneys attempted to remove the language, "while acting," from the criminal counts Norden and Borgan were charged with.

Defense attorneys Sargent and Don McCarty objected to the motion and said the prosecuting attorneys were "scrambling" to match the cases with the state statutes that were used to charge Norden and Borgan.

Ultimately, Judge Bucher denied striking the language from the charges. Bucher said the state's motion came "late in the game" and noted the prosecuting attorneys were granted their request to push the trial back nearly a month after the initial scheduled trial date.

*

The prosecutors planned to call on Landon Waddell to testify during Norden and Borgan's trial, but procedural errors made by Pennington County State's Attorneys prevented Waddell from taking the stand. Waddell is one of the six former Mitchell baseball players charged with second-degree rape and aiding abetting a second-degree rape stemming from the June 2023 Rapid City incident.

Norden's attorney requested Waddell be removed as a witness due to prosecutors not providing the defense with a copy of an interview Waddell had.

*

The trial revealed different descriptions of the alleged Rapid City incident that resulted in six players being charged with second-degree rape.

In Pennington County State's Attorney Roxanne Hammond's opening statement, she detailed the alleged June 2023 incident in a Rapid City hotel as multiple players "holding a juvenile down and penetrating his anus with their fingers."

"They took turns holding him down and rotated as they did with the previous juvenile," Hammond said.

The father of an alleged victim in the Rapid City rape case testified during Norden's trial. He said his son informed him that he was "held down and penetrated annally over his gym shorts" while the team was staying in Rapid City.

A witness who testified in Borgan's trial offered a much different take on the alleged incident that took place in Rapid City. The witness, whose son was a Mitchell Legion Post 18 team player at the time, characterized the Rapid City incident as a "dogpile," she said. When questioned further about her knowledge of the incident, the witness denied having any other knowledge about what went on.

*

Following the trial, Mitchell Baseball Association officials released a statement in reaction to the outcome of the trial. The statement spoke to Norden and Borgan's character as teachers and coaches.

"Mitchell Baseball is extremely pleased, but not at all surprised by this decision. The board has long known that both Mr. Norden and Mr. Borgan are men of the highest integrity both on and off the athletic field and in the classroom," the statement read. "It is unfortunate they were forced to endure the personal and financial hardships they had to face over the past several months."

Norden and Borgan received more than 100 character references from across the state, including other coaches, teachers, parents and former players, the statement read.

*

A key argument defense attorneys made was that Norden and Borgan were not actively in the midst of their teaching contracts when the alleged incidents were reported to them from parents of the players. Norden and Borgan's charges alleged they failed to report abuse or neglect of a child while acting as a teacher. In South Dakota, a teacher is considered a mandatory reporter.

Norden's yearly teaching contract extends from August to May. Sargent argued Norden was not in his teaching capacity due to both incidents being reported to him in June 2022 and June 2023.

*

Details of an alleged incident that took place in June 2022 while the team was staying in Wyoming surfaced during the trial when the mother of the alleged victim testified.

The mother of the victim said her son described the alleged incident as "being held down" while another teammate "stuck fingers in his butt." The mother of the victim named the alleged perpertrator during testimony. The individual named has not been charged with any crimes, which is why the Mitchell Republic is excluding the name.

Norden's attorney asked the mother, who is a counselor and considered herself a mandatory reporter, why she negelcted to report the alleged incident to law enforcement but expected Norden to? Norden investigated the allegation and made attempts to speak with the victim about the incident. However, the mother prohibited Norden from speaking to her son about the June 2022 allegation.

Judge Bucher later criticized Pennington County state's attorneys for "selective prosecution" and referenced part of the mother's testimony to support her claim.

*

Brian Larson, an agent with the state's Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), provided details of SnapChat messages he obtained during his investigation.

Larson, who helped lead the investigation, said group SnapChat messages between some of the players indicated they had knowledge of an "initiation" while DCI agents were investigating the case.

"A message read, 'This must be about the initiation.' It led me to believe that something was going on," Larson said.