Farmers who defrauded crop insurance out of $1.3M lose appeal
Three-judge panel splits on whether photographs should have been allowed as evidence
Two South Dakota farmers who were convicted and sentenced to prison for bilking the federal crop insurance program out of $1.3 million lost their bid Wednesday for a new trial.
James and Levi Garrett – a father-son duo who ranched and farmed in Sully County – were sentenced in 2023 for their scheme to defraud crop insurance for reporting false corn and sunflower losses in 2018 and 2019.
The Garretts argued that the federal district court judge who presided over their trial erred in allowing seed logs to be used as evidence and that the trial court erred in not allowing the Garretts to submit photos into evidence that they contended showed comparisons between their fields and neighboring fields.
The seed logs in question related to the delivery of sunflower seeds from Sioux Nation in 2018. That handwritten logs indicated that James Garrett received two pallets of sunflower seeds on June 20 and June 22.
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