List of people executed in South Dakota

The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of South Dakota from 1877 to date. A total of 20 people have been executed in South Dakota since 1877. Prior to 1915, the sole method of execution was via hanging. South Dakota banned the death penalty in 1915, but it was reinstated in 1939. The method of execution was then changed to electrocution.^[1]

Capital punishment was reinstated in South Dakota in 1979 following the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Gregg v. Georgia. The method of execution was changed from electrocution to lethal injection in 1984.^[1] Since 1979, a total of 5 people have been executed, all by lethal injection.^[2]

Post-Gregg

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	County	Method	Victim(s)	Governor
1	Elijah Page	White	25	M	July 11, 2007	Lawrence	Lethal injection	Chester Allan Poage	Mike Rounds
2	Eric Donald Robert	White	50	M	October 15, 2012	Minnehaha		Correctional Officer Ronald Johnson	Dennis Daugaard
3	Donald Eugene Moeller	White	60	M	October 30, 2012	Lincoln		Becky O'Connell
4	Rodney Scott Berget	White	56	M	October 29, 2018	Minnehaha		Correctional Officer Ronald Johnson
5	Charles Russell Rhines	White	63	M	November 4, 2019	Pennington		Donnivan Schaeffer	Kristi Noem

Demographics

Race
White	5	100%
Age
20–29	1	20%
30–39	0	0%
40–49	0	0%
50–59	2	40%
60–69	2	40%
Sex
Male	5	100%
Date of execution
1976–1979	0	0%
1980–1989	0	0%
1990–1999	0	0%
2000–2009	1	20%
2010–2019	4	80%
2020–2029	0	0%
Method
Lethal injection	5	100%
Governor (Party)
Richard F. Kneip (D)	0	0%
Harvey Wollman (D)	0	0%
Bill Janklow (R)	0	0%
George S. Mickelson (R)	0	0%
Walter Dale Miller (R)	0	0%
Mike Rounds (R)	1	20%
Dennis Daugaard (R)	3	60%
Kristi Noem (R)	1	20%
Total	5	100%

Pre-Furman

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	Method	Victim(s)	Governor
1	Jack McCall	White	24	M	March 1, 1877	Hanging	Wild Bill Hickok	John L. Pennington
2	Thomas Egan	White	—	M	July 13, 1882		Mary Egan	Nehemiah G. Ordway
3	Brave Bear	Native American	—	M	November 15, 1882		Joseph Johnson
4	James Leighton Gilmore	White	24	M	December 15, 1882		Bisente Ortez
5	John Benjamin Lehman	White	—	M	February 19, 1892		Constable James H. Burns	Arthur C. Mellette
6	Nathaniel R. Thompson	White	62	M	October 20, 1893		Electa Blighton	Charles H. Sheldon
7	Jay Hicks	White	28	M	November 15, 1894		John Meyer
8	Chief Two Sticks	Native American	—	M	December 28, 1894		Four victims
9	Charles Brown	Black	54	M	July 14, 1897		Emma Stone	Andrew E. Lee
10	Ernest Loveswar	Native American	—	M	September 19, 1902		George Puck and George Ostrander	Charles N. Herreid
11	Allen Walking Shield	Native American	—	M	October 21, 1902		Ghost-Faced Bear
12	George Bear	Native American	41	M	December 5, 1902		C. Edward Taylor and John Shaw
13	Emil Victor	White	19	M	November 16, 1909		Mr. and Mrs. James Christie, Mildred Christie, and Michael Ronayne	Robert S. Vessey
14	Joseph Rickman	Black	—	M	December 3, 1913		Ellen Fox and Mildred Fox	Frank M. Byrne
15	George Sitts	White	33	M	April 8, 1947	Electrocution	Special state agent Thomas Matthews^[a]	George T. Mickelson

Notes

^ He also killed Butte County Sheriff Dave Malcolm, but was not separately tried for that murder.

References

^ ^a ^b "Frequent Asked Questions: Capital Punishment". South Dakota Department of Corrections. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
^ "Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved February 2, 2020.

[3] He also killed Butte County Sheriff Dave Malcolm, but was not separately tried for that murder.

[doc-1] "Frequent Asked Questions: Capital Punishment". South Dakota Department of Corrections. Retrieved February 2, 2020.

[2] "Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved February 2, 2020.

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[2]

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