As used in this chapter, the term, sexual contact, means any touching, not amounting to rape, whether or not through clothing or other covering, of the breasts of a female or the genitalia or anus of any person with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of either party. Practitioners of the healing arts lawfully practicing within the scope of their practice, which determination shall be conclusive as against the state and shall be made by the court prior to trial, are not included within the provisions of this section. In any pretrial proceeding under this section, the prosecution has the burden of establishing probable cause.
S.D. Codified Laws § 22-22-7.1
Sexual contact defined--Exception when within the scope of medical practice
Applied in 30 court decisions — leading case State v. Brim (2010)
Most recently applied in State v. Richter (November 2025)
Source: SL 1976, ch 158, § 22-4; SL 1982, ch 177, § 2; SL 1993, ch 178, § 5; SL 1997, ch 133, § 2; SL 2004, ch 152, § 1.
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.