FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, May 14, 2026
Contact: Tony Mangan, Communications Director, 605-773-6878
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that the South Dakota Supreme Court has affirmed the convictions and sentence of a defendant convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a young child.
A jury found Tell Cadotte guilty of nine counts of first-degree rape and one count of sexual contact with a child under sixteen. The circuit court sentenced the defendant to 70 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary for the rape convictions and 10 years for the sexual contact conviction.
“This defendant repeatedly victimized a child and documented that abuse,” said Attorney General Jackley. “The circuit court handled the trial exactly as the law requires, and the Supreme Court correctly affirmed those rulings. This dangerous offender will remain in prison where he cannot harm another child.”
Evidence at trial showed the defendant repeatedly raped the child over a period of time while the child was in his care. Law enforcement later recovered electronic devices from the defendant’s residence containing images depicting the abuse.
The defendant appealed, arguing the circuit court should have excluded certain sanitized photographs and that testimony from a detective constituted hearsay.
South Dakota’s Supreme Court rejected both arguments and affirmed the conviction and sentence. The Court concluded the State complied with South Dakota’s discovery laws because defense counsel had access to the underlying evidence long before trial. The Court also determined that even if the challenged testimony was considered hearsay, it was cumulative of other testimony and did not prejudice the outcome of the trial.
The Attorney General’s Office represented the State on appeal. The ruling can be found here:
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