The state's attorney shall appear in all courts of his county and prosecute and defend on behalf of the state or his county all actions or proceedings, civil or criminal, in which the state or county is interested or a party. No state's attorney is required to appear in courts outside his county to prosecute and defend on behalf of the state or his county, any action or proceeding, civil or criminal, in which the state or county is interested or a party, except as required under § 7-16-15. If a part-time state's attorney appears in courts outside his county or in federal courts to represent the state or his county, he may receive extra compensation for the legal services pursuant to § 7-16-6.
S.D. Codified Laws § 7-16-9
Prosecution and defense of actions for state and county--Proceedings outside county or in federal court
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case State v. Nelson (1998)
Most recently applied in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Van Hunnik (March 2015)
Source: SL 1883, ch 43, § 2; CL 1887, § 428; RPolC 1903, § 928; RC 1919, § 5998; SDC 1939, § 12.1302 (2); SL 1983, ch 44, § 6; SL 1985, ch 51.
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.