MADISON, S.D. (KELO.com) — Additional charges have been filed and bond has been increased for the two men involved in the high speed pursuit and shooting incident that ended in the city of Madison last Thursday.
40-year-old James Lanpher, Jr. of Sioux Falls and 45-year-old Bonner Juel of Harrisburg both appeared in Lake County Magistrate Court Wednesday. Lake County State’s Attorney Wendy Kloeppner has filed additional charges against the two men. Lanpher and Juel are now both facing two charges of Attempted First Degree Murder or, in the alternative, Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, along with two counts of Commission of a Felony while armed with a firearm.
All of the charges are Class Two felonies, which each carry maximum penalties of twenty-five years in the state penitentiary and up to a fifty-thousand dollar fine. Magistrate Judge Bob Pesall scheduled preliminary hearings for Lanpher and Juel for August 3rd. State’s Attorney Kloeppner said that the two cases will go before a Lake County Grand Jury, so a preliminary hearing may not be necessary if an indictment is issued.
Kloeppner also asked Judge Pesall to increase bond for each of the two men, who she said were dangerous people. As far as Lanpher, she told the judge that he has a long criminal history and is currently on parole for Aggravated Assault against a Law Enforcement Officer. She said that he was the driver of the vehicle that led authorities on the pursuit with speeds of up to 100-miles-an-hour, and during that time fired at least eight rounds at law enforcement from either an automatic or semi-automatic rifle.
Kloeppner said that Lanpher also fired shots in downtown Madison. She said that Lanpher is a flight risk and asked that he be held on “no bond”. Kloeppner made similar comments when asking for bond to be increased also for Juel, who was a passenger in the vehicle during the pursuit. In both cases, Judge Pesall ordered that bond be increased to 100-thousand dollars cash.
The pursuit started last Thursday afternoon when law enforcement attempted to stop Lanpher’s vehicle in Minnehaha County because he was believed to be transporting a large amount of methamphetamine from Minnesota to South Dakota. Court documents state that Lanpher’s vehicle eluded officers and he traveled northbound in the southbound lane of Interstate-29 at a high rate of speed, shooting at officers out of the vehicle’s window.
The vehicle drove through Colman and west on Highway 34 into the city of Madison before coming to a stop at the intersection of Southwest 1st Street and Ramm Heights. Lanpher ran from the vehicle while shooting at officers, and they returned fire, according to court documents. He was later taken into custody, while Juel was removed from the vehicle and arrested.
(Sue Bergheim, KJAM, contributed this report.)
