South Dakota South Dakota South Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the seventeenth largest by area, but the fifth smallest by population and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population
Capital punishment in South Dakota death (there is no retrial). The governor has the power of clemency with respect to death sentences. Death row is located in Sioux Falls. Lethal injection is the only method of execution provided by statutes. First-degree murder is a Class A Felony in South Dakota, punishable by death or life imprisonment. It is the only Class A Felony in the state. It is only punishable by death if it involves any of the following aggravating factors: South Dakota executed four men between 1877 and its admission to the union in 1889, and 10 men between that time and the abolition