Any reckless killing of one human being, including an unborn child, by the act or procurement of another which, under the provisions of this chapter, is neither murder nor manslaughter in the first degree, nor excusable nor justifiable homicide, is manslaughter in the second degree. Manslaughter in the second degree is a Class 4 felony.
S.D. Codified Laws § 22-16-20
Manslaughter in the second degree
Applied in 34 court decisions — leading case State v. Best (1975)
Most recently applied in State v. Peltier (November 2023)
Source: SDC 1939, §§ 13.2016, 13.2023; SDCL, § 22-16-29; SL 1968, ch 32; SL 1976, ch 158, § 16-4; SL 1977, ch 189, § 42; SL 1995, ch 122, § 12.
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.