Resources for the Media

• The courtroom may not be used to conduct interviews before or after the judicial proceedings. Coverage in chambers or in the jury room is prohibited.
• Media members are not permitted to photograph or record jurors or potential jurors in any manner at any time or during the jury selection process.
• Coverage cannot focus on or display materials on counsel table, judge’s bench or the clerk’s table.
• Media coverage cannot capture conferences between attorneys and clients or sidebars between the court and counsel.
• There shall be no recording or broadcasting in the courtroom during recess or any other time when the judge is not present.
• Limit of one video camera in the courtroom to be operated by one camera person.
• Limit of one still camera photographer in the courtroom with two camera bodies.
• Equipment shall have no distracting light or sound and cannot bear media insignia. Existing courtroom equipment may not be modified without court approval.
• The court will determine designated equipment locations. All equipment must be set up 15 minutes in advance of the proceeding.
• The media is responsible for resolving its own disputes, arranging pooling and making sure they comply with the court’s procedures.
• No coverage is admissible as evidence at a later proceeding unless ordered by the court.

Media representatives must follow conduct and attire as defined in SDCL 15-24-9.

• Media representatives are expected to present a neat appearance in keeping with the dignity of the proceedings and be sufficiently familiar with court proceedings to conduct themselves so as not to interfere with the dignity of the proceedings, or to distract counsel or the court. All media personnel shall be properly attired. Clothing and equipment shall not display insignia of the media organization.
• All photographing and recording equipment and media representatives must be in place 15 minutes before the scheduled commencement of the proceeding to be recorded. When court is in session, media representatives will not be permitted to move from the location they have been assigned by the court, change film, lenses or tape, make repairs or otherwise disrupt the proceedings. Equipment shall be installed or removed before proceedings, after proceedings, or during a recess of adequate length to assure that the courtroom will not be disrupted.

Media representatives may be removed from the courtroom for failure to comply with this provision of the rules.

Certain proceedings such as juvenile hearings and portions of other proceedings closed by state law are not subject to expanded media coverage.

Court calendars can be requested via the Find Court Date. The Public Access Calendar allows people to generate a court calendar for a specified county, date and case type. Court calendars can be accessed up to 10 working days in advance. A calendar can be requested for one date at a time using the current date or one of the next nine business days.

The requester will receive the court calendar via email as a pdf or csv file. The file will include case number, case name, location, court date, court time, hearing type, lead attorneys, plaintiff’s lead attorney, defendant’s lead attorney, defendant’s first and last name, and court session time frame. The search feature is for criminal, civil and family type court records open to the public. Certain records may not be available in accordance with federal and state statutes and the rules governing the UJS or by court order.

Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of court calendar information, there may be circumstances preventing the timely entry of information into the system. If a search does not show any results, it does not necessarily mean a case date is not scheduled. For questions, contact the clerk of courts office.

The South Dakota Supreme Court holds court terms throughout the calendar year in the Supreme Court Courtroom at the State Capitol in Pierre. In addition, the Supreme Court travels throughout the state twice a year to hear oral arguments at the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law and another public institution. This gives the citizens of South Dakota the opportunity to see and hear for themselves firsthand how the Supreme Court operates. Supreme Court cases scheduled for term of court can be viewed on the Supreme Court Term of Court page. 

South Dakota provides the following electronic searches of court records:

• Court records for criminal cases are available, unless sealed, via UJS' Public Access Record System (PARS) from 1989 to present. The fee is $20 per search. For cases prior to 1989, records must be requested directly from the clerk of courts office for the county in which the case was filed.
• UJS’ eCourts provides summary information about court cases. This includes information such as names of parties, attorneys of record, documents filed, hearings held, judgments entered, and the outcome of completed cases. Court documents cannot be viewed or purchased via eCourts.
• Civil cases in which money judgments have been issued are available from 2003 to present via UJS' Civil Judgment Query. The site contains all active judgments and contains inactive judgment information from April 19, 2004, to present.
• The public can submit a request for large volumes of court records or compiled information from court records that is publicly accessible but not already available in an existing report. To learn more about bulk data requests, click here. 

The majority of court records can be accessed from public kiosk terminals at each county courthouse in South Dakota and printed at 20 cents a page. To search for older case files that may not be scanned into UJS’ system, contact the clerk of courts office for the county in which the case was held.

Learn more about record searches in South Dakota.

Supreme Court opinions and summary dispositions are posted on the Supreme Court page. Requests for additional Supreme Court records must be made to the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office. To make a request, email UJS Public Information Officer Alisa Bousa at alisa.bousa@ujs.state.sd.us.

SDCL 15-15A-7 specifies which court records are excluded from public access. For example, juvenile cases are closed (confidential) cases, and the information cannot be released to the public. A juvenile case will not appear in a record search.