Unified Judicial System

Welcome to the Fourth Judicial Circuit
Located in the Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota

Fourth Judicial Circuit – State of South Dakota
78 Sherman Street - PO Box 626
Deadwood, SD 57732-0626
Phone: 605-578-2044
Fax: 605-578-3613
Email: UJS4th CircuitAdmin@ujs.state.sd.us

The Fourth Judicial Circuit Court is served by four circuit court judges, one law-trained magistrate judge, and court clerk magistrates in each county in the circuit. Assisting the presiding judge is an appointed circuit court administrator, a chief court services officer and a drug court coordinator.

Circuit Judges

Warren G. Johnson, Presiding Judge

Randall L. Macy

John W. Bastian

Jerome A. Eckrich

Magistrate Judge/Drug Court Judge

Michelle Palmer-Percy

Circuit Court Administrator

Bernie Lungren

Chief Court Services Officer

Derrick Nedved

Drug Court Coordinator

Michael Pisciotta

The eight counties in north-western South Dakota within the Fourth Judicial Circuit are: Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Lawrence, Meade, Perkins and Ziebach serving a population of 74,450 and covering a total of 19,063 miles.

1 – Butte County – pop. 9,475
2 – Corson County – pop. 4,288
3 – Dewey County – pop. 6,112
4 – Harding County – pop. 1,180
5 – Lawrence County – pop. 23,347
6 – Meade County – pop. 24,425
7 – Perkins County – pop. 2,917
8 – Ziebach County – pop. 2,706

Map of South Dakota with the 4th Circuit area of the state highlighted in blue.

In FY2007 [July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007], the Fourth Judicial Circuit processed…..

· Criminal files: 2,768 felony and class one misdemeanor cases with another 9,259 class two misdemeanors and petty offense filings

· Civil files: 3,439, including divorce, protection orders, adoptions, probate and other civil cases.

· Juvenile matters: 455 dependency and delinquency cases

· Small claims: 2,028

· Demographic Merges: 10,503

· Records searches: 4,119, for employment backgrounds, criminal histories, genealogy, and other inquiries

Child support receipts: 646 (those receipts not processed through
Child Support Enforcement)

Other statistics in FY2007 include…..

· Collected $6.3 million in fines, fees, deposits and other costs, including $555,000 collected in the month of August alone due to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

· Disbursed $6.4 million to the State, counties, victims and other recipients

· Held 31 jury trials of all types

· Employed 44 people, including judges, court clerk magistrates, court services (probation) staff, drug court staff, court reporters, court administration staff, bailiffs and a law clerk

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