South Dakota Codified Laws Annotated (2023)
Title 22 Crimes (Chs. 22-1 — 22-49)
Chapter 22-18 Assaults and Personal Injuries (§§ 22-18-1 — 22-18-41)
22-18-4. Force — Defense of person.
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.
[PREVIOUS VERSION]
South Dakota Codified Laws Annotated
Title 22 Crimes (Chs. 22-1 — 22-49)
Chapter 22-18 Assaults and Personal Injuries (§§ 22-18-1 — 22-18-41)
22-18-4. Force — Defense of person.
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.
History
SDC 1939, § 13.2402 (3); 2005, ch 120, § 8; 2006, ch 116, § 2; 2021, ch 93, § 2, eff. July 1, 2021.
S.D. Codified Laws § 22-18-4
PRE-2021 VERSION
South Dakota Codified Laws (S.D.C.L.)
Chapter 22-18. Assaults and Personal Injuries
22-18-4. Justifiable use of force to protect property–Use of deadly force–Duty to retreat.
Any person is justified in the use of force or violence against another person when the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to prevent or terminate the other person’s trespass on or other criminal interference with real property or personal property lawfully in his or her possession or in the possession of another who is a member of his or her immediate family or household or of a person whose property he or she has a legal right to protect. However, the person is justified in the use of deadly force only as provided in §§ 22-16-34 and 22-16-35. A person does not have a duty to retreat if the person is in a place where he or she has a right to be.
[230627]