The distinction between an accessory before the fact and a principal, and between principals in the first and second degree, in cases of felony, is abrogated. Any person connected with the commission of a felony, whether that person directly commits the act constituting the offense or aids and abets in its commission, though not present, shall be prosecuted, tried, and punished as a principal.
S.D. Codified Laws § 22-3-3.1
Distinction between accessory before the fact and principal abrogated
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case State v. Miller (1988)
Most recently applied in State v. Dutton (June 2023)
Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 34.0504; SDCL, § 23-10-3; SL 1978, ch 185, § 2; SL 2005, ch 120, § 373.
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.