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South Dakota Assault Law

South Dakota Assault Penalties, SDCL § 22-18-1

What you are facing under SDCL § 22-18-1, how the penalties scale, and the questions an attorney needs to answer — under South Dakota (SD) assault law.

South Dakota (SD) — Simple Assault

Offense class: Class 1 Misdemeanor; Class 6 Felony (third or subsequent offense within 5 years)

Incarceration

– 1 year (misdemeanor); 2 years (felony)

Maximum Fine

$2,000 (misdemeanor); $4,000 (felony)

Offense Class

Class 1 Misdemeanor; Class 6 Felony (third or subsequent offense within 5 years)

What this costs

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South Dakota Assault Penalty Range

FactorDetail
StatuteSDCL § 22-18-1
OffenseSimple Assault
ClassClass 1 Misdemeanor; Class 6 Felony (third or subsequent offense within 5 years)
Incarceration – 1 year (misdemeanor); 2 years (felony)
Maximum fine$2,000 (misdemeanor); $4,000 (felony)

Penalty Enhancements

Additional factors that can increase the sentence under South Dakota law.

  • Third or subsequent conviction within 5 years (Class 6 Felony)
  • Against a law enforcement officer

South Dakota note: First and second offenses are Class 1 Misdemeanors. Third or subsequent within 5 years becomes a Class 6 Felony.

Federal judges with most assault sentencing data in South Dakota

These are aggregate frequencies — never a prediction about any specific case.

What you're afraid of

South Dakota assault defendants tell us they're afraid of four things. Here's how we address each.

Every citation in your report links back to a real CourtListener URL or a real state statute page. Your attorney can verify everything in under five minutes. We sit alongside your attorney — we don't replace them.

  • What if I take the wrong plea — or the wrong sentence?

    Most defendants take the first plea offered. We pull the comparable cases in your district and your judge's prior rulings, so you can see what the floor actually is before deciding.

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  • What if my attorney isn't actually listening — or preparing?

    Most defendants leave their attorney's office with more questions than they came in with. Not because attorneys are bad — the meeting is short and you didn't know what to ask. We hand you the questions, scored against your charge.

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  • I don't even know what I don't know.

    The hardest part of a criminal case is not knowing which questions matter. The Intelligence Brief pulls the most-cited opinions in your district + your charge, mapped to your judge's prior rulings, and surfaces the five questions that move the needle in front of this prosecutor.

    See what an Intelligence Brief covers

  • What if I bring my attorney a number they dismiss?

    If you bring your attorney a number they can't trace to a source, the conversation is over. Every number in our report is a hyperlink. Your attorney clicks, verifies, and the conversation continues.

    View a sample report

We're not here to replace your attorney. We're here to make sure you walk into their office knowing the right questions to ask.

What you're paying for is the time

Skip the 6-10 hours of reading. We already did it.

Defendants are already doing this work themselves — on r/legaladvice / r/Ask_Lawyers / Avvo Q&A, in Google searches, in the long thread of “what happens if I plead X” questions every public legal-help surface carries. The data is public. The reading is the work.

  • r/legaladvice + r/Ask_Lawyers (source): thousands of 'what happens if I plead X' threads, none of them indexed to your specific charge or your state's statute.

  • Avvo Q&A (source): per-charge plain-language threads, attorney answers gated behind per-minute meters.

  • Your state's official statute site: the actual statute text, the actual sentencing range, the actual enhancement triggers.

We hand you the synthesis — cited, hyperlinked, organized for your charge — for $127.

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Is your South Dakota assault case defense on track?

The free Defense Score checks 10 critical defense behaviors specific to assault cases. Takes 2 minutes. Instant results.

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DUI Defense Playbook

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26 questions that change how the next attorney meeting goes, a case stage roadmap, red flag checklist, and a case progress scorecard. Instant PDF download, relevant to South Dakota defendants.

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Other South Dakota defense topics

Facing a different charge in South Dakota? Penalty ranges, enhancements, and defense questions for related crimes:

DUI in South DakotaDrug Possession in South DakotaDomestic Violence in South Dakota

This page provides legal information — not legal advice — about South Dakota assault law as of the date of publication. Laws change. Verify current statutes with a licensed attorney in South Dakota.