Any citizen of this state, who is a resident of the county or jury district where the jury is selected, eighteen years of age or older prior to January first of the year of jury service, of sound mind and who is able to read, write, and understand the English language, is eligible to serve as a juror. Any member of the clergy, as defined in § 19-19-505, if jury service conflicts with religious belief, is exempt from jury duty. Any member of a church or religious organization is exempt from jury duty if jury service conflicts with the religious belief of that church or religious organization. Any person who has been convicted of a felony unless restored to civil rights is not eligible to serve as a juror. No potential juror may be excluded from jury duty because of a visual or hearing impairment.
S.D. Codified Laws § 16-13-10
Qualifications of jurors
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case State v. Nelson (1998)
Most recently applied in State v. Evans (February 2021)
Source: SDC 1939, § 32.1001; SL 1947, ch 149; SL 1972, ch 125, § 11; SL 1973, ch 135, § 4; SL 1976, ch 150, § 1; SL 1982, ch 172, § 8A; SL 1991, ch 175; SL 1992, ch 153, § 11; S…
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.