PIERRE — The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of a Pierre man for causing the death of his then-girlfriend’s child. Tristan Larson appealed his conviction on Second Degree Murder and Aggravated Battery of an Infant charges stemming from a May 2021 trial in Hughes County. Larson appealed to the Supreme Court that prosecutors should have been withheld from using statements he made to Pierre Police Department detectives and that a motion to dismiss his case should have been granted. In the October 5th opinion, the Justices concurred that evidence in the case supported the convictions and that the circuit court judge did not err in denying a motion to acquit Larson. Larson is serving life in prison for the murder charge and 55 years on the Aggravated Battery of an Infant charge. Larson was watching the two-year-old child on April 16 of 2020, when he shoved the toddler with enough force to cause the child to die two days after being injured by the shove.
