The Second Judicial Circuit in South Dakota will welcome Jeffrey C. Clapper as its newest circuit court judge. The official swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Friday, October 18, 2024, at 3 p.m. CDT. The event will take place in Courtroom 5B of the Minnehaha County Courthouse, located at 425 N. Dakota Ave., Sioux Falls. The public is invited to attend and refreshments will be available courtesy of the Second Circuit Bar Association.
Clapper's educational background includes a degree from Creighton University in 1989 and a law degree from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1993. He started his legal career at Moore, Rasmussen, Kading & Kunstle in Sioux Falls, focusing on criminal defense and civil litigation. Later, he joined Boyce, Murphy, McDowell & Greenfield to continue his work in civil litigation.
In 2002, Clapper became an assistant United States attorney handling cases such as bank robberies, financial frauds, violent crimes, and sexual assaults in Indian Country. Over the last fifteen years, his focus shifted towards prosecuting online child sex predators and sex traffickers. In 2024, he was appointed senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota.
Clapper will serve Lincoln and Minnehaha counties as part of his duties within the Second Judicial Circuit.