Usually yes, yet both kinds begin under one roof. South Dakota runs a single Unified Judicial System with seven circuits, and Lyman belongs to the Sixth Judicial Circuit. Every county has a circuit court and a magistrate court that share one Clerk of Courts.

• Magistrate court keeps misdemeanors and town ordinance tickets from start to finish (SDCL 16-12B-11). Its judges also issue warrants, set bond and hold first appearances (SDCL 16-12B-5, 16-12B-7, 16-12B-10). A magistrate may accept a guilty plea on any crime capped at $2,000 or a year behind bars (SDCL 16-12B-8).
• Circuit court receives felonies after the early stage in magistrate court, and it hears youth cases too.

Both sit at 300 S. Maine St., Kennebec, SD 57544. Clerk's line: 605-869-2277.

Nearly every hearing happens at one address. Still, a case could touch any of these:

• Circuit and magistrate court: Clerk of Courts, 300 S. Maine St., Kennebec, SD 57544, 605-869-2277. Open 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. Letters go to PO Box 235, Kennebec, SD 57544-0235.
• Sixth Circuit Drug & DUI Court: 8 E. Second Ave., Fort Pierre, SD 57532, 605-220-3850.
• Lower Brule Sioux Tribe (tribal court contact): 187 Oyate Circle, Lower Brule, SD 57548, 605-473-5561.
• Federal court, Central Division: 225 South Pierre Street, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-945-4600.

If a notice names any other place, phone the Clerk of Courts to check it before you set out.

No separate town court is needed. South Dakota sends city ordinance cases to magistrate court, the same bench that hears state misdemeanors (SDCL 16-12B-11). A ticket from Presho, Reliance, Vivian or Kennebec ends up at the county courthouse alongside everything else.

That means the Clerk of Courts, 300 S. Maine St., Kennebec, SD 57544, 605-869-2277. Paying the fine on a town citation online works through UJS ePayments, which takes debit and credit cards.

The arresting officer owes the person a prompt trip before the nearest free magistrate, "without unnecessary delay" in the words of SDCL 23A-4-1. A screen hookup from the jail is allowed. No plea is taken at this stage (SDCL 23A-4-3). Instead the judge covers:

• the accusation itself;
• the right to pay for counsel, or to request a free one;
• bond and the rules for release;
• the freedom to stay silent;
• on felonies only, a right to a probable cause hearing, called a preliminary hearing.

Judges in this circuit complete a written bond findings form, noting why a promise to return was or was not enough. The clerk can give you the date: 605-869-2277.

First and second DUIs, simple assault, small thefts and most driving crimes are misdemeanors. Magistrate court usually keeps them all the way through. A common path:

1. First appearance and bond. On the circuit's list, bond for a first DUI ranges from $225 to $1,000.
2. Arraignment, where the defendant says guilty or not guilty.
3. Bargaining between defense counsel and the State's Attorney, which often settles the case.
4. Trial if no deal is reached, then a sentence.

Maximum penalties (SDCL 22-6-2):

• Class 1: a year in county jail, $2,000, or both.
• Class 2: 30 days in county jail, $500, or both.

In drinking or drug cases, judges often add the 24/7 Sobriety Program.

Felonies start low and move up to circuit court:

1. First appearance. Bond is fixed, and counsel is assigned when needed.
2. Preliminary hearing. A judge listens to the state's proof and decides if it justifies a trial. The clock is 15 days from the first appearance when the accused sits in jail, and 45 days when free on bond, unless the hearing is waived (SDCL 23A-4-3).
3. Charging paper. Most felonies go forward on an information, a written charge signed by the State's Attorney. Grand juries, with six to ten members, meet only at a circuit judge's call (SDCL 23A-5-1). If the grand jury returns an indictment before the hearing date, that hearing is dropped.
4. Circuit arraignment, followed by motions, plea talks and possibly trial.
5. Sentence.

Felony classes go from A, the worst, down to 6, the lightest. The cap for Class 6 is two years and $4,000, Class 5 at five years (SDCL 22-6-1). Those two classes come with presumptive probation (SDCL 22-6-11). Trial must begin within 180 days of the first appearance, with defense-requested delays left off the count (SDCL 23A-44-5.1).

Several rules shift when the charge is grave:

• Bond. Murder, first-degree manslaughter and kidnapping arrests are kept from the clerk's bond list, so a judge decides. The same goes for any domestic abuse arrest (SDCL 25-10-40).
• Sentences. Class A and B felonies can bring life. A Class 1 allows 50 years, and a Class 2 allows 25 (SDCL 22-6-1).
• Jury strikes. In a trial for the top felonies (Class A, B, C or 1), each side may dismiss 20 jurors with no reason given. Other felonies get 10 each. Misdemeanors get 3 (SDCL 23A-20-20).
• Tribal land. Murder, felony assault, burglary and robbery by a tribal member on the Lower Brule Reservation are federal cases (18 U.S.C. 1153).
• Victims. Under Marsy's Law, victims can address the judge about bail, plea bargains and punishment.

Prosecution belongs to the Lyman County State's Attorney. The office is based in Chamberlain, outside the county line, with mail to PO Box 746, Chamberlain, SD 57325. Reach it at 605-734-9000, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. It charges adult and youth crime, and its staff won't advise private families.

Defense for anyone who can't afford counsel comes from a court-appointed lawyer, requested from the judge at the first hearing (SDCL 23A-40-6). The county pays (SDCL 23A-40-8). Later, a judge may order repayment, even after a not-guilty verdict (SDCL 23A-40-10), and a lien can attach to property, though never by forcing a sale of the home (SDCL 23A-40-15). Ask for form UJS-224R through the court's legal help page or at the Clerk of Courts, 300 S. Maine St., Kennebec, SD 57544, 605-869-2277.

Three tools cover it:

• Find a Court Date (free) turns up future dates by party name or case number, and it prints a daily calendar for each county.
• UJS eCourts (free) lays out docket entries on public cases.
• PARS charges $20 per search for a summary of public criminal records, and the fee applies even with zero hits.

Public records can be viewed on a terminal at the courthouse. Pre-1989 criminal records require a request to the clerk. Clerk of Courts: 300 S. Maine St., Kennebec, SD 57544, 605-869-2277.

In Lyman County, it's sheriff's deputies who pick people up on any warrant, bench or arrest. To learn if one is open, phone the Sheriff's Office, downstairs at 300 S. Main Street, Kennebec, SD 57544, 605-869-2267. Online, the state DOC keeps a Most Wanted page of escapes and walkaways, the Sex Offender Registry is searchable, and UJS ePayments shows when a case carries an active warrant. The Clerk of Courts, 300 S. Maine St., Kennebec, SD 57544, 605-869-2277, can check too. For a bench warrant, a lawyer calls the clerk first, and then the person turns in at the court that signed it.

This county's federal cases go to the Central Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, housed in Pierre's federal building, 225 South Pierre Street, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-945-4600.

• Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Pierre branch bring the charges. Mail: P.O. Box 7240, Pierre, SD 57501. Phone: 605-224-5402.
• Detention is argued at the first appearance. The defense can stretch that to five days, the government to three (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• The U.S. Marshals hold a federal defendant from arrest to trial. Their Pierre office sits at 225 South Pierre Street, Suite 425, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-224-8396.
• Federal pretrial and probation officers work from 225 South Pierre Street, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-945-4640.
• Once a federal sentence starts, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

The state charge keeps moving, yet freedom may not follow a court win or bond. The detainer works step by step:

1. ICE mails or faxes a Form I-247A detainer to whichever jail has the person.
2. When state custody would end, jailers may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Officers working for the ICE St. Paul Field Office, 1 Federal Drive, Suite 1601, Fort Snelling, MN 55111, 612-843-8600, then collect the person.
4. The ICE Online Detainee Locator shows where ICE has them.

Non-citizens should tell defense counsel about their status early. A guilty plea may hurt their immigration case. In 2025 the Legislature passed SB 7 (SL 2025, ch 100). Under it, local governments can't forbid their employees to pass immigration status along to federal agencies.

The crime's class decides. Misdemeanor time is county jail time (SDCL 22-6-2). Felony prison time is spent in a state lockup run by the South Dakota Department of Corrections (SDCL 22-6-1), with its central office at 3200 East Highway 34, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-773-3478. In Class 5 and 6 felony cases, the judge may instead order a year or less in the county jail (SDCL 22-6-1.1).

• The DOC's Offender Locator works with a last name or DOC number.
• Court Services supervises probation: 104 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 3, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-773-3874. The DOC handles parole.
• Our South Dakota state prisons page tells about each prison.

Youth cases go before the circuit court, 300 S. Maine St., Kennebec, SD 57544, 605-869-2277. South Dakota's juvenile court reaches children from age 10 up (SDCL 26-8C-2).

• A parent or guardian usually takes the child home.
• Locking up a youth needs one of the reasons written into law, and the least strict workable option must be chosen (SDCL 26-8C-3).
• A transfer hearing before a judge is the only door to adult court (SDCL 26-11-4).
• The State's Attorney prosecutes youth cases as well.

To learn which facility has a young person, phone the Sheriff's Office at 605-869-2267.

Part of the Lower Brule Reservation lies in this county. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe is a sovereign nation with its own court. Police work on the reservation is done by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services, with uniformed patrol officers and criminal investigators. A tribal member picked up there by BIA officers normally faces tribal court. Very serious crimes go to federal court. State charges go to the county courthouse.

• Lower Brule Sioux Tribe office: 187 Oyate Circle, Lower Brule, SD 57548, 605-473-5561.
• BIA Lower Brule Agency: 190 Oyate Circle, Lower Brule, SD 57548, 605-550-1932, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Sixth Judicial Circuit runs a Drug & DUI Court at 8 E. Second Ave., Fort Pierre, SD 57532, 605-220-3850. A treatment court mixes tight supervision with addiction care, and the judge, counselors, probation staff and lawyers act as one team. Ask the defense lawyer whether a local case can be sent there. Statewide questions go to the UJS treatment court office, 605-773-4161.

Marsy's Law became part of South Dakota's Constitution by a vote of the people (S.D. Const. art. VI, § 29). Victims are owed:

• word of court dates, and a place in the courtroom;
• a chance to speak when the court weighs release, a plea bargain or the sentence;
• a quick heads-up when the accused is freed or breaks out;
• full restitution, meaning repayment for what they lost.

Sign up on SAVIN for free custody alerts, or phone 844-299-4608 on weekdays. Youth cases are outside SAVIN, so a person hurt by a juvenile should ask the State's Attorney instead, 605-734-9000, PO Box 746, Chamberlain, SD 57325.