Close Search
Round Separator
Menu Search Death Penalty Information Center
  • About
    • Staff & Board of Directors
    • About Us
    • DPIC in the Media
    • DPIC Testimony
    • Press Releases
    • Work for DPIC
  • For the Media
  • Resources
    • Publications & Testimony
    • Related Websites
    • DPIC Podcasts
    • DPIC Reports
    • New Voices
    • En Español
  • For Educators
  • Fact Sheet
  • Donate
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Home
  • Policy Issues
    • Arbitrariness
    • Costs
    • Deterrence
    • Human Rights
    • Innocence
    • Intellectual Disability
    • International
    • Juveniles
    • Mental Illness
    • Prosecutorial Accountability
    • Race
    • Representation
    • Sentencing Alternatives
    • Victims' Families
  • Facts & Research
    • Fact Sheet
    • Death Penalty Census
    • Clemency
    • Crimes Punishable by Death
    • DPIC Reports
    • History of the Death Penalty
    • Innocence Database
    • Murder Rates
    • Public Opinion
    • Recent Legislative Activity
    • Religion
    • Sentencing Data
    • Student Research Center
    • United States Supreme Court
  • Executions
    • Executions Overview
    • Upcoming Executions
    • Execution Database
    • Methods of Execution
    • Botched Executions
    • Lethal Injection
  • Death Row
    • Death Row Overview
    • Conditions on Death Row
    • Foreign Nationals
    • Native Americans
    • Time on Death Row
    • Women
  • State & Federal Info
    • State by State
    • Federal Death Penalty
    • Military
  • Home
  • Policy Issues
    • Arbitrariness
    • Costs
    • Deterrence
    • Human Rights
    • Innocence
    • Intellectual Disability
    • International
    • Juveniles
    • Mental Illness
    • Prosecutorial Accountability
    • Race
    • Representation
    • Sentencing Alternatives
    • Victims' Families
  • Facts & Research
    • Fact Sheet
    • Death Penalty Census
    • Clemency
    • Crimes Punishable by Death
    • DPIC Reports
    • History of the Death Penalty
    • Innocence Database
    • Murder Rates
    • Public Opinion
    • Recent Legislative Activity
    • Religion
    • Sentencing Data
    • Student Research Center
    • United States Supreme Court
  • Executions
    • Executions Overview
    • Upcoming Executions
    • Execution Database
    • Methods of Execution
    • Botched Executions
    • Lethal Injection
  • Death Row
    • Death Row Overview
    • Conditions on Death Row
    • Foreign Nationals
    • Native Americans
    • Time on Death Row
    • Women
  • State & Federal Info
    • State by State
    • Federal Death Penalty
    • Military
  • About
    • Staff & Board of Directors
    • About Us
    • DPIC in the Media
    • DPIC Testimony
    • Press Releases
    • Work for DPIC
  • For the Media
  • Resources
    • Publications & Testimony
    • Related Websites
    • DPIC Podcasts
    • DPIC Reports
    • New Voices
    • En Español
  • For Educators
  • Fact Sheet
  • Donate

State And Federal Info

South Dakota

History of the Death Penalty

All executions were carried out by hanging until 1947, when George Sitts was executed by electrocution. Executions since 1976 have used lethal injection.

Famous Capital Cases

The first person executed by the government in the land that is now South Dakota was Jack McCall, the man convicted of killing Wild Bill Hickok. The execution happened in 1877.

The second person executed in the land that is now South Dakota was Thomas Egan, who was convicted of killing his wife. He was “hanged” three times on the 13th of July 1882; the rope broke on the first attempt, and on the second attempt the rope did not break his neck. Only on the third attempt did the execution go as planned. Years later, his stepdaughter admitted to committing the crime when she was on her death bed.

In 2001, Elijah Page and Briley Piper pleaded guilty to the torture-murder of Chester Allan Poage. They were both sentenced to death by a judge. Darrell Hoadley chose to plead innocent to the murder and was convicted by a jury. Though he was found to have the same aggravating factors against him, a split sentencing jury led to him receiving life in prison. Page chose to end his appeals and was executed in 2007. Piper challenged his death sentence and had his death sentence vacated. He is scheduled to be re-sentenced by a jury in July of 2011.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

Fourteen people were executed in what is now South Dakota before the death penalty was abolished in the state in 1915.

The death penalty was reinstated, with execution by electric chair as the only method, in 1939. One person, George Sitts in 1947, was executed before the death penalty was found to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1972.

Other Interesting Facts

In 1984, South Dakota law was changed to provide for execution by lethal injection.

South Dakota Badlands. Photo by Travis Schultze.
South Dakota Badlands. Photo by Travis Schultze.

Resources

  • South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  • Department of Corrections
  • Victims’ services

South Dakota Execution Totals Since 1976

News & Developments


Mental Illness

Feb 23, 2022

Kentucky and South Dakota Advance Bills to Bar Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness

Bills that would exempt indi­vid­u­als with severe men­tal ill­ness from the death penal­ty have tak­en major steps for­ward in the Kentucky and South Dakota leg­is­la­tures. The Kentucky House of Representatives vot­ed overw…

Kentucky and South Dakota Advance Bills to Bar Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness

Crimes Punishable by Death

Jan 26, 2021

Former South Dakota Prosecutor and Judge Introduces Bill to Limit the State’s Death Penalty

A South Dakota state sen­a­tor who pre­vi­ous­ly served as a pros­e­cu­tor and a state court judge has intro­duced a bill to lim­it the breadth of the state’s death penal­ty statute. 

Former South Dakota Prosecutor and Judge Introduces Bill to Limit the State’s Death Penalty

United States Supreme Court

Oct 12, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of October 5, 2020

NEWS (10/​5/​20) — Washington, D.C.: The 2020 – 2021 U.S. Supreme Court term opened on October 5 with the Court declin­ing to review chal­lenges to more than 30 death-penal­ty court deci­sions. The only death-pen…

Recent Legislative Activity

Feb 23, 2020

Legislative Roundup — Recent Legislative Activity as of February 22, 2020

Colorado — The House Judiciary com­mit­tee vot­ed 6 – 3 on February 18 to approve SB 20 – 100, a bill that would prospec­tive­ly repea…

Mental Illness

Nov 04, 2019

South Dakota Prisoner Executed After Supreme Court Denies Review of Anti-Gay Bias, Denial of Mental Health Expert

Whether South Dakota death-row pris­on­er Charles Rhines (pic­tured) …

South Dakota Prisoner Executed After Supreme Court Denies Review of Anti-Gay Bias, Denial of Mental Health Expert

United States Supreme Court

Jun 28, 2019

During National Pride Month, South Dakota Schedules Execution in Case Tainted by Anti-Gay Bias

In the midst of National Pride Month com­mem­o­rat­ing the 50th anniver­sary of the Stonewall Riots and the birth of the mod­ern LGBTQ rights move­ment, South Dakota has issued a death war­rant seek­ing to exe­cute a gay man whose death sen…

During National Pride Month, South Dakota Schedules Execution in Case Tainted by Anti-Gay Bias

United States Supreme Court

Apr 16, 2019

Supreme Court Denies Review in Case of Death Sentence Tainted by Anti-Gay Bias

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the case of a South Dakota death-row pris­on­er whose jurors made anti-gay state­ments and relied on homo­pho­bic beliefs in decid­ing to sen­tence him to death. On April 15,…

Supreme Court Denies Review in Case of Death Sentence Tainted by Anti-Gay Bias

International

Apr 03, 2019

Discriminatory Use of Death Penalty Against Gays Raises Concerns Globally and in the U.S.

As human rights activists raise alarms about a new law in Brunei that would pun­ish homo­sex­u­al­i­ty by death by ston­ing, the U.S. Supreme Court con­sid­ers whether to hear a case in which jurors who exhib­it­ed anti-gay big­otry sentenced…

Discriminatory Use of Death Penalty Against Gays Raises Concerns Globally and in the U.S.

Intellectual Disability

Oct 29, 2018

Amid Questions of Competency, South Dakota to Execute Special-Olympics Defendant Who Gave Up Appeals

The South Dakota Supreme Court has denied motions that sought to delay the October 29, 2018 exe­cu­tion of Rodney Berget (pic­tured). As the state pre­pared to exe­cute Berget, the for­mer pub­lic defend­er who represente…

Amid Questions of Competency, South Dakota to Execute Special-Olympics Defendant Who Gave Up Appeals

United States Supreme Court

Jun 05, 2018

Supreme Court Asked to Review Constitutionality of Death Sentence Grounded in Anti-Gay Stereotypes

A gay man on death row in South Dakota has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case and to rule that it is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al for jurors to impose the death penal­ty based upon anti-gay ani­mus and stereo­types. Charles …

Supreme Court Asked to Review Constitutionality of Death Sentence Grounded in Anti-Gay Stereotypes
View More

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 5
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 15
  • Current Death Row Population: 1
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 0
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 0
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): January 1, 1979
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 2007
  • Location of Death Row: South Dakota State Penitentiary, Sioux Falls
  • Location of Executions: South Dakota State Penitentiary, Sioux Falls
  • Capital: Pierre
  • Region: Midwest
  • Population: 886,667*
  • Murder rate (per 100,000 population): 1.92
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he is not responsible for the murder?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: Injection
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor has sole authority to grant clemency
  • Governor: Kristi Noem

Join our mailing list

Death Penalty Information Center
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Policy Issues
  • Arbitrariness
  • Costs
  • Deterrence
  • Innocence
  • Intellectual Disability
  • Juveniles
  • International
  • Mental Illness
  • Prosecutorial Accountability
  • Race
  • Representation
  • Sentencing Alternatives
  • Victims' Families
Facts & Research
  • Fact Sheet
  • Death Penalty Census
  • Clemency
  • Crimes Punishable by Death
  • DPIC Reports
  • History of the Death Penalty
  • Innocence Database
  • Murder Rates
  • Public Opinion
  • Recent Legislative Activity
  • Religion
  • Sentencing Data
  • Student Research Center
  • United States Supreme Court
Executions
  • Executions Overview
  • Upcoming Executions
  • Execution Database
  • Methods of Execution
  • Botched Executions
  • Lethal Injection
Death Row
  • Death Row Overview
  • Conditions on Death Row
  • Foreign Nationals
  • Native Americans
  • Time on Death Row
  • Women
State & Federal Info
  • State by State
  • Federal Death Penalty
  • Military
About
  • About Us
  • Staff & Board of Directors
  • DPIC in the Media
  • DPIC Testimony
  • Press Releases
  • Work for DPIC
For the Media
Resources
  • Related Websites
  • Publications & Testimony
  • DPIC Podcasts
  • DPIC Reports
  • New Voices
  • En Español
For Educators
Fact Sheet
Donate

Death Penalty Information Center | 1701 K Street NW Suite 205 Washington, DC 20006

Phone: 202-289-2275 | Email: [email protected]

Privacy Policy | ©2023 Death Penalty Information Center