State v. Ogden

South Dakota Supreme Court·Decided June 24, 2026·No. 31010·Published

Opinion

#31010-a-JMK 2026 S.D. 40

IN THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE

STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA

STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, Plaintiff and Appellant, v.

GARY DEAN OGDEN, JR., Defendant and Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE MAGISTRATE COURT OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT UNION COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA

THE HONORABLE KASEY SORENSEN Judge

NICK MICHELS PAUL E. BACHAND JENNA SEVERYN Special Assistant Attorneys General South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks Pierre, South Dakota Attorneys for plaintiff and appellant.

MICHAEL P. SCHMIEDT JOHN M. HINES of Crary Huff Law, P.C. Sioux City, Iowa Attorneys for defendant and appellee.

CONSIDERED ON BRIEFS

OCTOBER 7, 2025

OPINION FILED 06/24/26

KERN, Retired Justice [¶1.] Gary Dean Ogden Jr. was arrested and charged with boating under the influence and several other offenses in July 2024, as a result of an incident that occurred on the Missouri River. At the time of his arrest, Ogden was on the river between South Dakota and Nebraska. Ogden filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that all relevant events occurred on the Nebraska side of the river and that South Dakota lacked jurisdiction. After an evidentiary hearing, the magistrate court found that Ogden’s arrest occurred near the Nebraska shore beyond the centerline of the river’s designed channel. The court found that state statutes SDCL 41-15-2 and 42-8-67, granting conservation officers jurisdiction over the entire boundary waters of the state to the furthermost shoreline, were federally preempted by the South Dakota-Nebraska Boundary Compact (1989 Compact). For these reasons, the court concluded that South Dakota lacked jurisdiction and granted Ogden’s motion to dismiss. [¶2.] After the case was dismissed, the State filed a direct appeal with this Court, which we dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The State then petitioned for an intermediate appeal under SDCL 23A-32-5, which we granted. The State contends the magistrate court abused its discretion by taking evidence on Ogden’s jurisdictional challenge and by dismissing the case for lack of jurisdiction. Ogden argues the State’s intermediate appeal is untimely and this Court lacks appellate jurisdiction. Alternatively, Ogden contends the magistrate court properly dismissed the case against him for lack of jurisdiction. We conclude we have jurisdiction over the appeal, and that the magistrate court did not err by taking testimony to

determine the jurisdictional question. We also conclude the magistrate court did not err in determining that South Dakota does not have concurrent jurisdiction over the boundary waters at issue. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History [¶3.] During the evening hours of July 27, 2024, South Dakota Wildlife Conservation Officers Josh Vanden Bosch and Taylor Kirchener were patrolling the waters of the Missouri River between Union County, South Dakota, and Dakota County, Nebraska. At approximately 9:30 p.m., they stopped a boater for lack of proper navigational lights. The officers asked the boater, subsequently identified as Ogden, to bring his boat to the middle of the river to perform a safety check.1 [¶4.] After tying the boats together, Officer Vanden Bosch allegedly observed indicators of Ogden’s alcohol impairment. After some disagreement between the parties, the officers completed a sobriety test and informed Ogden that he was under arrest.2 Ogden refused to cooperate and was placed in handcuffs. He was transported to the Union County jail, ticketed, and released. An information was filed against him on August 23, 2024, charging him with several offenses arising from the incident.3

1. Officer Vanden Bosch’s body camera captured the initial encounter and relative location of the boat to the river’s shoreline.

2. These facts are set forth in Officer Vanden Bosch’s probable cause statement, which was not admitted into evidence during the motion hearing, but is part of the settled record. The magistrate court did not enter findings of fact regarding Ogden’s alleged behavior or intoxication.

3. Ogden was charged with the following: count 1, boating under the influence in violation of SDCL 42-8-45(1) and in the alternative under SDCL 42-8-

(continued . . .)

[¶5.] Ogden filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction under SDCL 23A-8-2. He argued that South Dakota lacked jurisdiction because “all of the pertinent events occurred in Nebraska, and South Dakota law is inapplicable.” Ogden contended that under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a defendant has a right to trial in the “state, county[,] and district wherein the crime was alleged to have been committed.” [¶6.] Ogden also asserted that South Dakota’s jurisdiction over the river is governed by the 1989 Compact enacted by both states and approved by Congress. Article II(a) of the 1989 Compact, codified at SDCL 1-2-8, fixes the permanent compromise boundary between Dakota County, Nebraska, and Union County, South Dakota, at the “centerline of the designed channel of the Missouri River (the westerly channel adjacent to Section 5, Township 29 North, Range 7 East of the 6th P.M. shall be considered the main channel).” Ogden argued that the 1989 Compact preempts conflicting state laws, particularly SDCL 42-8-67, which grants South Dakota conservation officers jurisdiction over the entire boundary waters of the state to the furthermost shorelines. [¶7.] In response, the State urged the magistrate court to deny Ogden’s motion to dismiss, arguing that “a trial court cannot inquire into the legality or sufficiency of the evidence upon which an [i]nformation is based when considering a dismissal under SDCL 23A-8-2.” In the alternative, the State argued that the

(. . . continued)

45(2); count 2, failure to have boat lights required while operating in violation of SDCL 32-3A-1(1); count 3, obstructing law enforcement in violation of SDCL 22-11-6; and count 4, resisting arrest in violation of SDCL 22-11-4(2).

language of the 1989 Compact pertains only to land, not ownership of waters overlying the land, and “both federal law and state law grant South Dakota concurrent jurisdiction over the waters of the Missouri River.” [¶8.] At a hearing on the motion to dismiss, the State reasserted its argument that the magistrate court could not inquire into the sufficiency of the evidence because this was “really a question for the trier of fact.” Over the State’s objection, the court allowed Ogden to call Officer Vanden Bosch as a witness and received his body camera video into evidence as Exhibit B.4 [¶9.] At the evidentiary hearing, Officer Vanden Bosch testified that he had worked as a conservation officer for 11 years and frequently patrolled the river with Nebraska officers. He acknowledged, however, that on the evening in question there were no Nebraska officers on board. When asked to describe the location of the arrest, Officer Vanden Bosch was unable to identify on a map the exact location of the stop, but stated it was “within a mile upstream from Miners Bend.” He further remembered asking Ogden to move his boat toward the middle of the river to avoid rocks near the Nebraska shoreline. Officer Vanden Bosch estimated the rocks were 30 to 50 yards from Ogden’s boat. Following Officer Vanden Bosch’s testimony, the State reasserted its 1989 Compact interpretation argument, and the court took the matter under advisement. [¶10.] The magistrate court issued a memorandum opinion, followed by findings of fact and conclusions of law, which incorporated the opinion by reference,

4. Exhibit A, a map of the Missouri River flowing between the two counties, was examined by Officer Vanden Bosch during the hearing but was not received into evidence, nor is it part of the record on appeal.

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