Justifiable homicide-Law enforcement officers or at command of officer--Overcoming resistance--Capturing or arresting fleeing felons
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case State v. Pellegrino (1998)
Most recently applied in Swedlund v. Foster (January 2003)
Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2004; SL 1976, ch 158, § 16-9; SL 1977, ch 189, § 43; SL 2005, ch 120, § 163.
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.
Homicide is justifiable if committed by a law enforcement officer or by any person acting by command of a law enforcement officer in the aid and assistance of that officer:
(1) If necessarily committed in overcoming actual resistance to the execution of some legal process, or to the discharge of any other legal duty; or
(2) If necessarily committed in retaking felons who have been rescued or who have escaped; or
(3) If necessarily committed in arresting felons fleeing from justice.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.