Evidence is relevant if:
(a) It has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence; and
(b) The fact is of consequence in determining the action.
S.D. Codified Laws § 19-19-401
Test for relevant evidence
Applied in 31 court decisions — leading case Knecht v. Evridge (2020)
Most recently applied in State v. Clifford (March 2026)
Source: SL 1979, ch 358 (Supreme Court Rule 78-2, Rule 401); SDCL § 19-12-1; SL 2016, ch 239 (Supreme Court Rule 15-24), eff
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.