BROOKINGS – Watertown native Vincent A. Foley, 55, has rarely been away from his hometown for long. Now after stepping down from the bench in South Dakota’s Third Circuit Court, he will go back to what has been a big part of his life as a lawyer: private practice in his home town.

The judge explained that he was “taking retirement, returning to practice.”

“My father (John L. Foley) was still practicing. He had fallen ill. We had thought maybe I would go back. I didn’t expect at any point that he was still going to be practicing at 82. He and I had talked and I had made my announcement to go back and join the practice with him. Originally it was set for Aug. 3,” Foley said.

His father died July 9. Foley left office the next day.

Elected to an eight-year term in 2006, Foley was unopposed for re-election in 2014 and could have served until 2022. When he stepped down on July 10, he was about 15 years away from mandatory retirement from the bench at age 70.

With the judge leaving, the governor will personally select his replacement from a short list of about three to five applicants selected by the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Foley graduated from Watertown High School in 1980. In 1984 he graduated from the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Ind.) with a bachelor’s degree. He returned home and attended the University of South Dakota School of Law, graduating in 1987. He followed that with clerking in a federal court for about a year before returning to Watertown to stay.

While working with his father in private practice for 18 years, Foley served part-time as Watertown city attorney from 1994 to 2000 and part-time as Codington County state’s attorney from 2000 to 2006.

Circuit rider, challenging and fun

The Third Circuit covers a huge chunk of eastern South Dakota and includes Beadle, Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hand, Hamlin, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake Miner, Moody and Sanborn counties. Serving that many counties demands that its judges be “circuit riders.”

Foley called that a “challenging and fun part of the job. I would be assigned a single case in Miller or a single case in Wessington Springs or Woonsocket and so would be able to travel the circuit to go to those different types of locations. But we did have our primary assignments and my primary assignment, of course, was Brookings. The last few years were on what’s called the civil side.”

“In Brookings County, I started on the criminal docket but then switched to the civil docket. But when you go to the small counties, you take soup to nuts,” he added.

“There was a day when I had a speeding case and a murder case in Hamlin County. It’s that kind of variety that the circuit judge has. Then I’ve had Grant County, which is Milbank; Deuel County, which is Clear Lake; Hamlin County, which is Hayti. I also had for a period of time the juvenile docket in Huron.”

A more holistic view

Foley said he was ready to leave the bench and return to private practice.

“I was. The judge’s job is challenging, it’s interesting. There are good days and bad days. The (South Dakota state) Legislature has made some changes from when I started.

“One of my motivating factors was just thinking that maybe it’s time for a fresh look; because I came in to the old type of system. There have been some very positive changes that the Legislature’s made,” he said.

As Foley leaves the bench, he sees South Dakota starting to take a different outlook on crime, “getting away from punishment only and looking at the evidence-based support for what we actually do.”

He explained that the state Legislature, Chief Justice David Gilbertson and Gov. Dennis Daugaard have really taken a comprehensive look at how people are addressed in the criminal justice system and the juvenile justice system.

They have “tried to fashion a system so that it better addresses the individual for perhaps a better long-term outcome. A more holistic view.”

Foley thinks the new system is a good process but with “some negative ramifications: that’s the whole jail issue.” There has been “jail crowding” in the justice system.

“I think in the long run it will be a net positive,” he said of the new approach. As for himself, he said, “I didn’t want to be an old stick-in-the-mud in the way of those changes and thought and feel perhaps somebody with a fresh outlook might serve the position better.”

The judge believes there’s evidence such a holistic view will reduce recidivism.

“I believe so. That’s part of it: That ‘evidence based’ – it sounds like a catch phrase; but it really is some sociological work that’s really gone into what happens when we do X, Y or Z in the way of a sentence to an individual.”

“The system is catching up in that we need to provide more services for those individuals in lieu of the money spent on penitentiaries,” he added. “But eventually I’m confident that the state will get there with that support.”

Good news, bad news

“The upside were the adoptions; they were joyous. It was a highlight of my service: to see the joy in the families of a baby or to see the joy in the young child when a step-parent adopts them. That was the upside, definitely the upside,” Foley said, reflecting on his days on the bench.

Also, the judge sometimes saw the kinder side of people in the middle of a custody dispute.

“There’s acrimony; there’s hard feelings. Sometimes there might be some self-interest involved. But then the parties step back and do what’s best for the child involved. That’s heartening to see, that acrimony being put aside for the child.”

The downside was seeing “somebody come back in as a recidivist. It just is disheartening that this person might be setting themselves up for a life of involvement in the system. I have been involved with third-generation people who have continued falling into the system. That’s disheartening.”

Juxtaposed to that is the Foley family, with four generations dedicated to the law: his great-grandfather, Andrew P. Foley, was sheriff of Codington County; his grandfather, Andrew E. Foley, Sr., was a judge in Codington County; his father also served as Codington County state’s attorney.

In addition to serving the law, another common denominator for men of the Foley family is four generations of Notre Dame graduates: Vincent Foley’s grandfather, Andrew E. Foley, Sr., graduated in 1910; his great-uncle John L. Foley in 1913; his father in 1958; and his oldest son is a Notre Dame alumnus.

Foley has been married to his high school sweetheart, Patricia, for 32 years. They have five children (the youngest a sixth-grader) and one grandchild. So far none have opted for law school.

“So far I’ve got a computer person, a teacher and a physical therapist,” Foley said.

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.