All South Dakota courts belong to one Unified Judicial System. Inside the Fort Pierre courthouse it splits into two levels that share the clerk's office.

• Magistrate court keeps misdemeanor and ordinance trials (SDCL 16-12B-11). Warrants, bond and first appearances run through it as well (SDCL 16-12B-5, 16-12B-7, 16-12B-10). A plea is allowed here on any offense capped at $2,000 or a year behind bars (SDCL 16-12B-8).
• Circuit court takes over felonies after the opening hearings, plus juvenile matters.

So a felony begins downstairs, so to speak, and moves up. Stanley is one of the 14 counties in the Sixth Judicial Circuit.

• Stanley County Courthouse, 8 E. 2nd Ave., Fort Pierre, SD 57532. Mail: PO Box 758, Fort Pierre, SD 57532. Clerk of Courts: 605-223-7735. Posted clerk hours are 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central time, Mondays through Thursdays. Call before you count on a Friday visit.
• Sixth Circuit Drug & DUI Court, 8 E. Second Ave., Fort Pierre, SD 57532, 605-220-3850. Participants get in by referral to this treatment track.
• Court Services, the probation office for Stanley: PO Box 454, Fort Pierre, SD 57532, 605-773-3874. Officers there can say where to report.

The UJS Stanley County court finder page lists the same contacts.

Fort Pierre has no court of its own. A city ordinance charge is handled by magistrate court in the county courthouse, 8 E. 2nd Ave., Fort Pierre, SD 57532 (SDCL 16-12B-11). The Clerk of Courts at 605-223-7735 answers questions on those tickets. City hall sits at 08 East 2nd Ave., Fort Pierre, SD 57532, 605-223-7690.

Police must deliver a prisoner to the closest committing magistrate "without unnecessary delay" (SDCL 23A-4-1). For a Stanley arrest, that hearing may run on a video screen from Pierre. No plea is taken yet. Under SDCL 23A-4-3 the judge goes over:

• what the state says the person did
• hiring counsel, or asking the court to supply one
• how and when release can happen
• the freedom to stay silent
• in a felony, a preliminary hearing on the evidence

The Sixth Circuit's bond findings form then records why release on a promise was, or was not, granted.

A Stanley misdemeanor normally lives its whole life in magistrate court. The prosecutor files, the defendant answers, and a not-guilty answer sets up a trial. SDCL 23A-44-5.1 sets 180 days from the opening appearance for trial, though stalls the defense requests stop that clock.

• Class 1: a maximum of 12 months of county jail time and $2,000 (SDCL 22-6-2). A DUI, first or second, counts as Class 1.
• Class 2: a 30-day cap and $500 at most.
• Common tickets: fixed totals on the state chart, for example $132.50 for disorderly conduct.

DUI defendants are often ordered into the 24/7 Sobriety Program as a term of bond or probation (SDCL 1-11-20, 1-11-21). For Stanley prisoners, county jail time is served in Pierre or Winner.

1. Opening hearing before a magistrate, with bond.
2. Evidence hearing. A judge checks the proof at a preliminary hearing. It comes within 15 days for a defendant held in custody, or 45 days for one on bond, unless waived (SDCL 23A-4-3).
3. Formal charge. In most Stanley felonies the prosecutor signs a charging paper called an information. Grand juries of 6 to 10 citizens meet only if a circuit judge summons one (SDCL 23A-5-1).
4. Circuit court arraignment, motions and trial, inside the 180-day limit.
5. Sentence once guilt is admitted or proven.

Felonies are graded Class A through Class 6 (SDCL 22-6-1). The bottom grade, Class 6, tops out at two years plus $4,000. Class 5 reaches five years. Both start from a presumption of probation (SDCL 22-6-11).

Yes. Several steps get tougher:

• No chart bond. Kidnapping, murder and first-degree manslaughter defendants wait for a judge to set release.
• Domestic arrests. A judge must be told before any release and then fixes the bond and terms (SDCL 25-10-40). Until court convenes the first time, reaching out to the alleged victim's home is a crime, even by relay (SDCL 25-10-43).
• Long terms. Class 1 felonies carry up to 50 years; Classes A, B and C carry life (SDCL 22-6-1).
• Jury strikes. Top-tier felonies give each side 20 peremptory strikes; other felonies give 10 (SDCL 23A-20-20).
• Victim's say. Under Marsy's Law, the victim may address the court on release, pleas and sentence.

Prosecution comes from the State's Attorney, an office that Stanley shares with Jones County. Find it at 204 N. Euclid Ave., Pierre, SD 57501, 605-224-0491.

A defendant who is broke can request appointed counsel (SDCL 23A-40-6), usually at the opening hearing, by filing the UJS-224R application. The county pays that lawyer up front (SDCL 23A-40-8). A judge can later make the defendant pay it back (SDCL 23A-40-10), and the debt may become a lien, though the home is safe from foreclosure (SDCL 23A-40-15).

Appeals go to the state Office of Indigent Legal Services, 605-362-2759.

• No-cost and quickest: Find a Court Date. Type in a defendant's name or a case number. A one-day calendar for the county can be pulled up too.
• UJS eCourts lists the docket entries in public cases.
• PARS returns criminal case summaries back to 1989 for $20 a search.

The courthouse's public terminal shows case records. Or phone the clerk, 605-223-7735; have the spelling and the birth date ready.

In this county, deputies handle both arrest and bench warrants, inside Fort Pierre and out. Call the Sheriff's Office at 605-223-7792 on weekdays, or 605-773-7410 nights and weekends. State lists: the DOC Most Wanted page for escapees, and the Sex Offender Registry. A case's active warrant also appears on UJS ePayments. Clearing it starts with a defense lawyer; next comes a planned surrender, either to the court behind it or at the Hughes County Jail, 3100 E Hwy 34, Pierre, SD 57501. Clerk of Courts: 8 E. 2nd Ave., Fort Pierre, SD 57532, 605-223-7735.

Stanley's federal court is the Central Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, 225 South Pierre Street, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-945-4600.

• A federal magistrate rules on pretrial jail or release at the first hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• The U.S. Marshals keep pretrial prisoners, from 225 South Pierre Street, Suite 425, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-224-8396. The Hughes County Jail houses federal prisoners under a Marshals agreement.
• The U.S. Attorney's Pierre branch prosecutes, PO Box 7240, Pierre, SD 57501, 605-224-5402.
• U.S. Probation in that courthouse prepares pretrial reports, 605-945-4640.
• Major crimes on Lower Brule land are federal cases (18 U.S.C. 1153).

A sentenced federal prisoner shows up on the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

A detainer does not pause the Fort Pierre case. Its effect lands on release day, when the bond is paid or the sentence ends.

1. ICE sends Form I-247A to the Pierre or Winner jail.
2. Once that form arrives, staff are allowed to keep the prisoner up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Agents from the St. Paul Field Office, 1 Federal Drive, Suite 1601, Fort Snelling, MN 55111, 612-843-8600, come for the person.
4. Track them through the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

A noncitizen defendant should ask defense counsel how any plea deal might play out in immigration court. Under SB 7 (SL 2025, ch 100), a county or city here can't stop its workers from giving immigration status to federal officials.

Felony prison time belongs to the South Dakota Department of Corrections. Stanley has no jail, so its misdemeanor sentences are served in borrowed space in Pierre or Winner.

• State prisoners appear on the DOC offender locator; search a surname or a DOC number to see where they are.
• Our South Dakota state prisons pages describe every prison.
• Parole hearings and release dates: Board of Pardons and Paroles, 605-367-5040.

Delinquency cases for kids aged 10 or more go to circuit court (SDCL 26-8C-2). Most children are returned to a parent after police contact. Detention of a child needs an intake officer to point to a ground written in SDCL 26-8C-3, and must pick the gentlest placement that works. Moving a teen to adult court takes a separate hearing and a signed transfer order (SDCL 26-11-4).

Request a youth's lawyer on the UJS-224A application. Hughes County runs the Hughes County Juvenile Service Center in Pierre, 605-773-2290. Stanley's Court Services office, 605-773-3874, can say where a teen is placed.

Marsy's Law sits in South Dakota's Constitution (S.D. Const. art. VI, § 29). A victim who asks gets notice of each hearing and may attend. The victim may speak on release, a plea or a sentence, and may claim full restitution.

• Register for free custody alerts on SAVIN, or call 844-299-4608 on weekdays.
• Case questions go to the State's Attorney, 605-224-0491.
• When the accused is under 18, alerts come from the State's Attorney rather than SAVIN.

A slice of Stanley County lies inside the Lower Brule Reservation. Tribal members picked up there by tribal or BIA officers normally face tribal court, not the Fort Pierre courthouse. Lower Brule Sioux Tribe: 187 Oyate Circle, Lower Brule, SD 57548, 605-473-5561. The BIA polices the reservation from 190 Oyate Circle, Lower Brule, SD 57548, 605-550-1932. Major crimes there go to federal court in Pierre.