The criminal case
DUI penalties in South Dakota
The offense, qualifying priors and statutory conditions matter—not just an arrest count.
DUI penalties in South Dakota depend on the charged offense and its statutory conditions. Prior convictions, their dates, and aggravating factors may change the applicable rule. An arrest count alone does not establish the offense tier, and a minimum sentence is not the complete sentencing range. The cited rules below are not predictions of a particular case’s outcome.
The lookback period
- How far back priors count
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.This varies widely between states — from a few years to a lifetime — so it is not safe to assume a national figure.
Penalty rules by offense number
- First offense
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
- Second offense
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
- Third offense
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
Driving privileges, ignition interlock and insurance requirements need separate review under their own rules. A commercial-driving restriction may have different triggers from a restriction on an ordinary licence. No consequence is assumed merely because it appears in this list.
- Ignition interlock, first offense
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
The two legal questions
The criminal charge and driving privileges can involve different proceedings. The notice, order and cited rule identify the applicable process.
Driving privileges
The licence case
- Forum
- The agency or court identified by the applicable licence proceeding
- Clock
- Check the applicable notice or order for the deadline and its starting event
- Deadline to request a hearing
- The deadline depends on why your license is being taken away.
- DPS notice: If your notice cites §32-12-49 or §32-12-49.4, your written hearing request must be postmarked—or received by fax—within 15 days after the date on the notice. Send the request to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety (DPS).
- Under-21 test refusal: If your license is being revoked because you refused a test after an arrest under South Dakota’s under-21 driving law, you have 120 days from the arrest to request a hearing.
- The 120-day deadline is only for that under-21 refusal process. It does not replace the 15-day deadline for the notices described above.
- Requesting a hearing does not, by itself, establish that you may keep driving. These license hearings are separate from your criminal case.
- Suspension under the cited rule
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
Criminal charge
The criminal case
- Forum
- A criminal court
- Clock
- Check court notices and orders; no case duration is predicted here
- Alcohol-concentration threshold
- 0.08% or more by weight of alcohol in blood while driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle.
- The statute specifies chemical analysis of breath, blood or another bodily substance. It separately prohibits driving under the influence; the numeric threshold is not permission to drive while impaired.
- This is the general alcohol-concentration rule, not a separate rule for commercial drivers or drivers under 21.
- First-offense penalty rule
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.The cited rule may describe a range or a minimum with conditions, not a predicted sentence.