Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

S.D. Codified Laws § 19-19-404

Character evidence--Crimes or other acts

Applied in 45 court decisions — leading case State v. Carter (2023)

Most recently applied in State v. Clifford (March 2026)

Source: SL 1979, ch 358 (Supreme Court Rule 78-2, Rule 404); SDCL §§ 19-12-4, 19-12-5; SL 2016, ch 239 (Supreme Court Rule 15-26), eff

How often courts cite this section

20152020202660
citing decisions per year

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.

(a) Character evidence.

(1) Prohibited uses. Evidence of a person's character or character trait is not admissible to prove that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character or trait.

(2) Exceptions for a defendant or victim in a criminal case. The following exceptions apply in a criminal case:

(A) A defendant may offer evidence of the defendant's pertinent trait, and if the evidence is admitted, the prosecutor may offer evidence to rebut it;

(B) Subject to the limitations in § 19-19-412, a defendant may offer evidence of an alleged victim's pertinent trait, and if the evidence is admitted, the prosecutor may:

(i) Offer evidence to rebut it; and

(ii) Offer evidence of the defendant's same trait; and

(C) In a homicide case, the prosecutor may offer evidence of the alleged victim's trait of peacefulness to rebut evidence that the victim was the first aggressor.

(3) Exceptions for a witness. Evidence of a witness's character may be admitted under §§ 19-19-607 to 19-19-609, inclusive.

(b) Other crimes, wrongs, or acts.

(1) Prohibited uses. Evidence of any other crime, wrong, or act is not admissible to prove a person's character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character.

(2) Permitted uses. This evidence may be admissible for another purpose, such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident.

(3) Notice in a criminal case. In a criminal case, the prosecutor must:

(A) Provide reasonable notice of any such evidence that the prosecutor intends to offer at trial, so that the defendant has a fair opportunity to meet it;

(B) Articulate in the notice the permitted purpose for which the prosecutor intends to offer the evidence and the reasoning that supports the purpose; and

(C) Do so in writing before trial--or in any form during trial if the court, for good cause, excuses lack of pretrial notice.

Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.