Former SD Legislator on Trial for Rape

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A former state lawmaker was wrong to tell two foster daughters he could help them make money by selling their reproductive eggs, but his physical examinations of the girls did not amount to rape, his defense lawyer said Tuesday as the trial opened.

The girls allowed former state Rep. Ted Klaudt to conduct the exams, and both were older than 16 the age of consent at the time, defense lawyer Tim Rensch told jurors in his opening statement at Klaudt's rape trial.

"This was not the product of force. This was not the product of coercion," Rensch said. "It's something that was immoral and wrong, but it was not forcible rape."

Assistant Attorney General Patricia DeVaney said Klaudt used lies and manipulation to rape the girls under the pretense that he was determining whether they were healthy enough to sell their eggs to infertile couples.

Klaudt committed second-degree rape when he used coercion to touch the girls' breasts and penetrate them with his fingers and a sex toy, DeVaney told jurors.

The 49-year-old farmer and rancher is charged with four counts of second-degree rape in Hughes County for offenses alleged to have happened while he was in Pierre, the capital, during the 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions. If convicted, he could face as many as 25 years in prison on each count.

Klaudt also faces charges of rape, other sex offenses, witness tampering and stalking in Corson County, where he lives. The trial on those charges is scheduled to begin Nov. 13.

A law enforcement officer testified Tuesday about his initial questioning of Klaudt in February in Klaudt's home.

The jury listened to a two-hour recording of the interview in which Klaudt initially denies conducting any of the exams involved in the egg-donation scheme. By the end of the interview, Klaudt admitted that he had done the tests, touched the girls' breasts and helped obtain vaginal fluid.

Klaudt also acknowledged that he sent one of the girls e-mails from a woman who purportedly worked for an egg-donation organization. The e-mails urged the girl to let Klaudt do the exams, but Klaudt said he created an e-mail account to pose as the woman.