Mitchell man faces second trial for defying school mask mandate
A Mitchell man who defied a local mask mandate during the opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic faces a second trial on Thursday for refusing to leave a school district meeting.
But unlike the first trial, Reed Bender won’t have the benefit of a jury. Instead, the trial will be held before a magistrate judge.
Bender was charged for obstructing police when he refused to leave a Mitchell School District Board meeting on Sept. 14, 2020. The district had passed a mandate in July that applied to all people in school buildings. When Bender refused to wear a mask during the meeting, police were called and he was escorted out of the meeting. He was not arrested that night, but was later charged with obstructing police.
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Bender pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial. That trial took place over three days in October of 2021. After hours of deliberation, the result came back as a hung jury. Two people on the jury wanted to convict Bender while 10 didn’t.
Davison County States Attorney Jim Miskimins refiled charges against Bender for trespassing and obstructing police, both class-1 misdemeanors. Miskimins also filed a motion seeking a gag order from anyone associated with the case from speaking to the press.
Miskimins did not return a call for comment.
But in a column he wrote following the trial for the Mitchell Daily Republic, he defended his office without specifically siting Bender’s name or the case. The column was written at the same time he was seeking a gag order.
In the column, he said his office had an obligation to protect public boards.
“Turning a blind eye to scofflaws who interfere with those boards discourages bright and talented individuals from stepping forward to serve the people,” he wrote.
But Miskimins later dismissed the class-1 misdemeanor charges and then refiled as a class-2 trespass charge.
As a class-2 charge with no possibility of a jail sentence or a suspended jail sentence, Bender cannot have his case hear before a jury.
R. Shawn Tornow, a Sioux Falls lawyer representing Bender, said his client was targeted by the board because he had been critical of the board for a masking policy that even required masks outside, and on other school issues, such as bond issues. Tornow noted that others attending the meeting were also not wearing masks over their mouths, and he said the masking policy proved to be an “off-base stance.”
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“On behalf of Reed Bender, we are absolutely looking forward to his day in court, again, to rightfully defend himself from this targeted accusation of criminal trespass, as was borne out in the first jury trial last October,” Tornow said.
Should Bender be found guilty in Thursday’s bench trial, he would have the option to appeal the verdict to circuit court.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Second Mitchell mask mandate trial for man accused of defying in 2020
