Force--Defense of person
Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case State v. Lewis (1976)
Most recently applied in State v. Warfield (March 2026)
Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2402 (3); SL 2005, ch 120, § 8; SL 2006, ch 116, § 2; SL 2021, ch 93, § 2.
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 person is justified in using or threatening to use force, other than deadly force, against another if the person reasonably believes that using or threatening to use force is necessary to defend against the other's imminent use of unlawful force.
A person who uses or threatens to use force in accordance with this section does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use force.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.