Almost every day, a letter to the editor arrives regarding Amy Stack's pending sentencing hearing. But unlike most letters, these are not addressed to the readers or editors of the newspaper; they are addressed to Judge Locke Williams of the Benton County Circuit Court. The heartfelt message is expressed in varied ways, but it is essentially the same:

Stack, 28, was not adequately held legally accountable in connection with her role in the 2004 hit-and-run death of bicyclist Robin Jensen, 18. The letters speak of the devastating loss of Jensen. Most take Williams to task for not admitting at trial some of the prosecution's evidence that could have alerted jurors to the possible involvement of alcohol. The letters conclude by urging the judge to impose the maximum sentence possible during Stack's sentencing hearing, scheduled for Thursday.

One letter writer candidly said the letters were part of an organized effort to sway the judge's decision. "Our goal is a letter a day until the sentencing," the writer said.

Not all of the letters were published, only those that addressed readers and raised relevant issues. Besides, we doubt that judges formulate legal decisions based on how many letters are published on the editorial page.

The judiciary is supposed to be an impartial filter of laws and precedents. But the idea that justice is too often hijacked by the law is feeding a growing dissatisfaction with judicial authority. It is rooted in the belief that this authority is too absolute.

In fact, that isn't so. Judges are challenged all the time. They are removed from the bench for judicial misconduct; their decisions are overturned on appeal; they are voted out of office. Yet this growing discontent, as evidence by the often-heard grumbling about "activist judges," is fueling an effort in South Dakota to put a measure on the ballot that would strip judges of their immunity from prosecution.

The goal of this measure is to reverse a century of prosecutorial immunity for judges, presumably to afford citizens - what? - the right to threaten judges with blackmail if they don't rule the way a litigant wanted, rather than what the evidence and the law reqires?

That's certainly a fast road to chaos, and we trust the voters in South Dakota to see the folly in yanking that thread from the fabric of our constitutional democracy.

The legal system has not yet finished with the matter of the hit-and-run death of Robin Jensen. Aside from whatever sentence is imposed Thursday, we foresee a change in state laws that modifies the penalties for leaving the scene of an accident without checking for injury when serious injury or death had resulted.

Our interest as citizens should be to strengthen and make more equitable the laws that protect us all, not to undermine the process by which those laws are administered.