One Unified Judicial System runs every state court, divided into seven circuits. The Third Judicial Circuit covers this county, and both of its local courts work out of the Hayti clerk's office:

• Magistrate court handles the lower charges, misdemeanors and town rule violations (SDCL 16-12B-11). Its judges sign warrants and set bond. They also hold the first court appearance (SDCL 16-12B-5, 16-12B-7, 16-12B-10). They may also accept a guilty plea where the worst sentence is a year in jail or a $2,000 fine (SDCL 16-12B-8).
• Circuit court takes felonies once the early steps are done. Juvenile matters land here too.

So a felony begins with a magistrate judge, then climbs to a circuit judge for the plea or trial.

Both state courts share one Clerk of Courts office:

• Clerk of Courts: 350 Fourth Street, Hayti, SD 57241, 605-783-3751. Mail goes to PO Box 256, Hayti, SD 57241. Hours run Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Court Services (probation): 314 Sixth Avenue, Suite 6, Brookings, SD 57006, 605-688-4208. This office supervises probation for local cases.

The county's other offices, including the Sheriff and State's Attorney, use 300 4th Street, Hayti, SD 57241. County offices are open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and close for holidays and bad weather. Call the clerk before a winter drive.

No. A ticket for breaking a city rule in Bryant, Castlewood, Estelline, Hayti, Hazel or Lake Norden goes to the county's magistrate court (SDCL 16-12B-11).

The Clerk of Courts at 350 Fourth Street, Hayti, SD 57241, 605-783-3751, keeps those files. Town tickets, traffic fines and court costs may be settled by card on UJS ePayments, the state court payment site.

This short hearing, the initial appearance, is often held on a video screen linked to the Brookings or Watertown jail (SDCL 23A-4-1). Nobody enters a plea yet. Under SDCL 23A-4-3, the judge covers these points:

• what the charge says
• the choice between a hired lawyer and one the county pays for
• bond and the release terms
• the right to keep quiet
• on a felony, the chance for a preliminary hearing

Third Circuit rules add two deadlines. Someone held without bond gets a judge's probable cause review inside 48 hours, or walks out. When police arrested without a warrant, the complaint must be filed by the State's Attorney within two business days. Miss that, and the person goes free with the bond wiped out.

Most misdemeanors stay in magistrate court from start to finish. A typical path:

1. First appearance and bond.
2. A plea. Many cases end here with a guilty or no contest plea and a sentence.
3. If the plea is not guilty, motions and a court trial or jury trial.
4. Sentencing, which may bring fines, jail time, probation or the 24/7 Sobriety Program.

SDCL 22-6-2 caps the penalties this way:

• Class 1: a $2,000 fine, a year behind bars, or both. First and second DUIs belong here.
• Class 2: a $500 fine, 30 days behind bars, or both.

Any jail time is served at a host jail in Brookings or Watertown.

Here are the usual steps:

1. Initial appearance before a magistrate, with bond and release terms.
2. Preliminary hearing. The judge weighs whether the state has enough evidence to keep going. If the person stays locked up, the hearing comes within 15 days of their first appearance. A person on bond gets it within 45. The defense may waive it, and an earlier grand jury indictment cancels it (SDCL 23A-4-3).
3. Information or indictment. In most cases, a charging paper called the information comes from the State's Attorney. Grand juries of six to ten local residents seldom meet, and only when a circuit judge calls one (SDCL 23A-5-1).
4. Arraignment before a circuit judge, who takes the guilty or not guilty plea.
5. A trial or a negotiated deal, followed by sentencing.

South Dakota ranks felonies from Class A, the gravest, through Class 6, the lightest. Class 6 means as much as two years and $4,000, and Class 5 as much as five years (SDCL 22-6-1). For these two lowest classes, probation is the starting point (SDCL 22-6-11), and a sentence of no more than one year in the local jail can stand in for prison (SDCL 22-6-1.1).

Under the 180-day rule, trial should begin within six months of that first appearance. Any delay the defense requests is left off the count (SDCL 23A-44-5.1).

Serious cases carry bigger risks and stricter rules:

• Bond. Murder, kidnapping and first-degree manslaughter cases go straight to a judge for bond. So do domestic abuse arrests (SDCL 25-10-40).
• No-contact rules. Once booked on a domestic charge, the accused is barred from reaching the alleged victim's household in person, by phone or through others, until the first hearing (SDCL 25-10-43).
• Penalties. Life in prison is possible for Classes A, B and C. For a Class 1 felony the top term is 50 years, and a Class 2 felony 25 years (SDCL 22-6-1).
• Jury selection. In trials on the top felony classes, through Class 1, each side gets 20 strikes it need not explain. Other felony trials allow 10 (SDCL 23A-20-20).

Victims have a right to be heard before release, a plea or a sentence (S.D. Const. art. VI, § 29).

The prosecutor is the county State's Attorney, 300 4th Street, Hayti, SD 57241, 605-983-9900. Visits are by appointment. Alternative number: 605-690-2378.

The defense: a judge appoints a private lawyer, paid by the county, for anyone who cannot afford one (SDCL 23A-40-6, 23A-40-7). Make that request at the first hearing. The Clerk of Courts at 605-783-3751 has the money forms.

Down the road, a judge might want that lawyer cost returned to the county. The county may also record a lien, though never one that forces the sale of a home (SDCL 23A-40-10, 23A-40-15). A state agency formed in 2024, the Office of Indigent Legal Services, covers appeals rather than trials.

The court system offers three lookups:

• Find a Court Date has no fee. Look up any name or case number. It can also list every hearing on the county's docket over the coming two weeks of workdays.
• PARS, the public record search, shows case summaries from 1989 on. It costs $20 for each search, even when nothing is found.
• UJS eCourts lists the filings logged in open cases.

The Clerk of Courts at 605-783-3751 can give a court date by phone. Case records can be viewed on the public terminals inside the courthouse.

The county Sheriff's Office serves arrest warrants from 300 4th Street, Hayti, SD 57241, 605-783-3232. Call that line to ask whether one is active. On the web, UJS ePayments marks a case that has a live warrant. The state Department of Corrections names escapees on its Most Wanted page.

A bench warrant is best handled with a defense lawyer at your side. Surrender together at the court, or phone the Clerk of Courts at 350 Fourth Street, Hayti, SD 57241, 605-783-3751, about getting a fresh date.

Federal charges from the county go to the Northern Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. Court sits at 102 Fourth Avenue SE, Aberdeen, SD 57401. The clerk's office in Sioux Falls, 400 South Phillips Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD 57104, takes calls at 605-330-6600.

• Under 18 U.S.C. 3142, the question of jail or release is argued at the opening hearing. Short delays are allowed: five days for the accused, three for the government.
• While the federal case is pending, the accused stays in Marshals custody. Aberdeen office: 102 Southeast 4th Avenue, Suite 409, Aberdeen, SD 57401, 605-226-1794.
• The U.S. Attorney's branch in Aberdeen prosecutes, 605-226-7264.
• Federal pretrial and probation officers are based at 102 Fourth Avenue SE, Aberdeen, SD 57401, 605-377-2625.

A sentenced federal prisoner can be tracked through the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

With or without a detainer, the Hayti case goes on. The hold kicks in at the moment of release:

1. A Form I-247A arrives at the Brookings or Watertown jail.
2. The form requests custody for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Agents then collect the person. South Dakota falls under the St. Paul field office, 1 Federal Drive, Suite 1601, Fort Snelling, MN 55111, 612-843-8600.
4. The ICE Online Detainee Locator shows where ICE is holding them.

Pleading guilty can hurt a non-citizen's legal status, so talk it over with defense counsel first. A 2025 state law is SB 7 (SL 2025, ch 100). Under it, a town or county may not stop its workers from telling federal officials a person's immigration status.

A judge's prison sentence on a felony places the person under the South Dakota Department of Corrections (SDCL 22-6-1).

The DOC offender locator tracks anyone serving state time. County jail stays and probation do not appear there. The central office is at 3200 East Highway 34, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-773-3478. Our state prisons page covers each facility.

Delinquency cases are for youths age 10 and up, and a circuit judge hears them (SDCL 26-8C-2). Parents usually take their child home after police contact. Holding a youth in detention is limited to the grounds in SDCL 26-8C-3, and the mildest setting that works must be used.

The Codington County Detention Center, 14 1st Avenue SE, Watertown, SD 57201, 605-882-6284, provides juvenile care next to its adult jail. Call the Sheriff's Office at 605-783-3232 to find out where a young person was taken. Only a judge, after a transfer hearing, can have a youth tried in adult court (SDCL 26-11-4).

The state Constitution's victims' rights section, known as Marsy's Law, promises the following (S.D. Const. art. VI, § 29):

• word of each hearing in time to be there
• a say before any ruling about release, a plea bargain or sentencing
• repayment of losses through restitution
• quick notice if the accused gets out or escapes

Sign up for free release alerts through SAVIN or call 844-299-4608. Questions about the case go to the State's Attorney at 300 4th Street, Hayti, SD 57241, 605-983-9900.