Title 22, CRIMES

Any person who knowingly possesses a controlled weapon is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The provisions of this section do not apply to any person who: (1) Is a law enforcement officer or member of the armed forces of the United States or South Dakota National Guard acting in the la…

Any person who: (1) Recklessly discharges a firearm or recklessly shoots a bow and arrow; (2) Sets a device designed to activate a weapon upon being tripped or approached, and leaves the device unmarked or unattended by a competent person; or (3) Has in personal possession a load…

Any person who conceals on or about his or her person a controlled or dangerous weapon with intent to commit a felony is guilty of a Class 5 felony. Source: SL 1976, ch 158 , § 14-5 ; SL 1977, ch 189 , § 28; SL 2005, ch 120 , § 246.

Any person who explodes or ignites any destructive device or explosive with intent to cause serious bodily injury and which results in serious bodily injury is guilty of a Class 2 felony. Source: SL 1972, ch 140 , §§ 7 to 9; SDCL Supp, §§ 22-14A-9, 22-14A-10; SL 1976, ch 158 , § …

Any person who possesses any substance, material, or any combination of substances or materials, with the intent to make a destructive device without first obtaining a permit from the Department of Public Safety to make such device, is guilty of a Class 5 felony. Source: SL 1972,…

The provisions of this chapter do not apply to the armed forces of the United States, the National Guard, any law enforcement agency or any officer, agent, employee, or member thereof, acting in a lawful capacity, and any person possessing a valid seller's permit or user's permit…

Any person who intentionally destroys or attempts to destroy by the use of any explosive or destructive device, any property real or personal, not the property of such person, although done under such circumstances as not to endanger the life or safety of any human being, is guil…

Any person who intentionally, by the use of an explosive or destructive device, destroys or injures any occupied or unoccupied structure, motor vehicle, street, highway, railway, bridge, dam, dike, or other structure, by means of which the life or safety of any human being is end…

Any person who takes into, upon, under, against, or near to any occupied or unoccupied structure, motor vehicle, street, highway, railway, bridge, dam, dike, or other structure, any explosive or destructive device, with intent to destroy or injure such structure, under circumstan…

Any person may possess destructive devices that are registered with, or licensed by, the state or federal government pursuant to law. Source: SL 1976, ch 158 , § 14A-13; SL 1977, ch 189 , § 40.

No person may, with the intent to cause bodily injury to another person, use or place a hazardous or injurious device on any land owned or leased by the State of South Dakota, including any highway, road, or right-of-way. A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor. For …

Any person who intentionally communicates a threat by leaving a substance or device, thereby causing either serious public inconvenience, or the evacuation or serious disruption of a building, place of assembly, facility of public or school transport, or a school related event, i…

Any person who intentionally possesses, transports, uses, or places any hoax substance or hoax destructive device with the intent of causing anxiety, unrest, fear, or personal discomfort is guilty of a Class 6 felony. A hoax substance is any substance that would cause a person to…

The court may, after conviction or adjudication of any violation of § 22-11-9.2 , 22-14A-24 , or 22-14A-25 , conduct a hearing to ascertain the extent of costs incurred, damages, and financial loss suffered by local, county, or state public safety agencies, and the amount of prop…

The provisions of § 22-11-9.2 , 22-14A-24 , or 22-14A-25 may not be construed to create any cause of action against any person based upon or arising out of any act or omission relating to any good faith response to a felonious threat or an attempted felonious threat. Source: SL 2…

Any person who knowingly sells, offers for sale, transports, or possesses any destructive device is guilty of a Class 4 felony. If such person has been previously convicted of a crime of violence in this state or elsewhere, the offense is a Class 3 felony. Source: SL 1972, ch 140…

Any person who, with intent to injure or to threaten to injure any person or property: (1) Carries any explosive or destructive device on any vessel, aircraft, motor vehicle, or other vehicle that transports passengers for hire; (2) Places or carries any explosive or destructive …

Any person who has in his or her possession any explosive or destructive device under circumstances not described in § 22-14A-5 , with intent to injure, intimidate, or terrify any person, or with intent to wrongfully injure or destroy any property, is guilty of a Class 3 felony. …

Homicide is the killing of one human being, including an unborn child, by another. Homicide is either: (1) Murder; (2) Manslaughter; (3) Excusable homicide; (4) Justifiable homicide; or (5) Vehicular homicide. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2001; SL 1985, ch 176 ; SL 1995, ch 122 , § 10;…

Homicide is fetal homicide if the person knew, or reasonably should have known, that a woman bearing an unborn child was pregnant and caused the death of the unborn child without lawful justification and if the person: (1) Intended to cause the death of or do serious bodily injur…

Murder in the first degree is a Class A felony. Murder in the second degree is a Class B felony. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2012; SL 1939, ch 30 ; SL 1955, ch 28 ; SL 1976, ch 158 , § 16-2 ; SL 1978, ch 349 , § 9; SL 1980, ch 173 , § 12.

Homicide is manslaughter in the first degree if perpetrated: (1) Without any design to effect death, including an unborn child, while engaged in the commission of any felony other than as provided in § 22-16-4(2); (2) Without any design to effect death, including an unborn child,…

No person may be convicted of murder or manslaughter, or of aiding suicide, unless the death of the person alleged to have been killed, and the fact of the killing by the accused are each established as independent facts beyond a reasonable doubt. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2006; SL …

Any reckless killing of one human being, including an unborn child, by the act or procurement of another which, under the provisions of this chapter, is neither murder nor manslaughter in the first degree, nor excusable nor justifiable homicide, is manslaughter in the second degr…

Murder in the second degree is a lesser included offense of murder in the first degree. Manslaughter in the first degree is a lesser included offense of murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree. Manslaughter in the second degree is a lesser included offense of m…

A lesser included offense instruction shall be given at any homicide trial whenever any facts are submitted to the trier of fact which would support such an offense pursuant to this chapter. The state and the defendant each have the separate right to request a lesser included off…

If the degree of homicide is made to depend upon its having been committed under circumstances evidencing a depraved mind or unusual cruelty, or in a cruel manner, the jury may take into consideration any domestic or confidential relationship which existed between the accused and…

Homicide is excusable if committed by accident and misfortune in doing any lawful act, with usual and ordinary caution. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2002 (1); SL 1976, ch 158 , § 16-5 ; SL 2005, ch 120 , § 161.

Homicide is excusable if committed by accident and misfortune in the heat of passion, upon sudden and sufficient provocation, or upon a sudden combat. However, to be excusable, no undue advantage may be taken nor any dangerous weapon used and the killing may not be done in a crue…

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 …

Homicide is justifiable if necessarily committed in attempting by lawful ways and means to apprehend any person for any felony committed, or in lawfully suppressing any riot, or in lawfully keeping and preserving the peace. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2003 (3); SL 2005, ch 120 , § 164…

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.1901; SL 1968, ch 31 , § 1.

Any person who intentionally in any manner advises, encourages, abets, or assists another person in taking or in attempting to take his or her own life is guilty of a Class 6 felony. Source: SDC 1939, §§ 13.1902, 13.1903; SDCL, § 22-16-38 ; SL 1968, ch 31 , § 1; SL 1976, ch 158 ,…

It is no defense to a prosecution for aiding suicide that the person who committed or attempted to commit suicide was not a person deemed capable of committing crime. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.1903 as enacted by SL 1968, ch 31 , § 1.

Homicide is murder in the first degree : (1) If perpetrated without authority of law and with a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or of any other human being, including an unborn child; or (2) If committed by a person engaged in the perpetration of, or …

Any law enforcement officer who has knowledge that any party has attempted to take his or her own life shall immediately notify the state's attorney. Source: SL 1968, ch 31 , § 2; SL 1976, ch 158 , § 16-8 ; SL 2005, ch 120 , § 171.

Any person who, while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or substances in a manner and to a degree prohibited by § 32-23-1 , without design to effect death, operates or drives a vehicle of any kind in a negligent manner and thereby causes the death of another person, includin…

Any person who, while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or substances, in a manner and to a degree prohibited by § 42-8-45 , without design to effect death, operates a boat, as defined by § 42-8-2 , in a negligent manner and thereby causes the death of another person, includ…

The term, premeditated design to effect the death, means an intention, purpose, or determination to kill or take the life of the person killed, distinctly formed and existing in the mind of the perpetrator before committing the act resulting in the death of the person killed. A p…

Homicide committed with a design to effect death is not the less murder because the perpetrator was in a state of anger or voluntary intoxication at the time. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2009.

Homicide is murder in the second degree if perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular person, including an unborn child. Source: …

Homicide perpetrated by an act imminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is not the less murder because there was no actual intent to injure others. Source: SDC 1939, § 13.2007 (4); SL 2005, ch 120 , § 157.

A person is guilty of a Class B felony if, with the intent to cause a pregnant mother to undergo an abortion against her will, the person: (1) Threatens to commit, against the pregnant mother or any other person within the pregnant mother's presence: (a) Homicide, murder, or mans…

A person is guilty of a Class 5 felony if, with the intent to coerce a pregnant mother to undergo an abortion against her will, the person threatens to commit, against the pregnant mother or any other person within the pregnant mother's presence: (1) Homicide, murder, or manslaug…

A person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if the person: (1) In any manner other than that set forth in § 22-17-13.1 , coerces, compels, or attempts to compel a pregnant woman to undergo an abortion; (2) Requires a pregnant woman to agree to a provision that if she refuses to u…

Any person who administers to any person or who prescribes or procures for any person any medicine, drug, or substance or uses or employs any instrument or other means with intent thereby to procure an abortion, as defined in § 34-23A-1 , unless there is appropriate and reasonabl…