South Dakota Man Receives Mandatory Life Sentence for 2022 Retaliatory Double Homicide in Rapid City

23 year old Dillon Wilson receives life without parole for the 2022 murders of Joseph Standing Bear and Petan Milk in South Dakota.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 10, 2026, 4:27 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from KOTA.

Mandatory Life Without Parole Handed Down in Seventh Circuit Court

The judicial conclusion for one of Rapid City’s most high-profile violent incidents of 2022 was reached on Monday as 23 year old Dillon Wilson faced sentencing. Presiding Judge Heidi Linngren issued three mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole following Wilson’s conviction last month. The counts included two for aiding and abetting first degree murder and one for conspiracy to commit first degree murder. The sentencing marks a significant step in the legal resolution of a case that has impacted multiple families within the Rapid City community since the violence erupted nearly four years ago.

Retaliation Cited as Motive for the August 2022 Shootings

According to evidence presented by prosecutors during the trial, the murders of Joseph Standing Bear and Petan Milk were not random acts of violence but were calculated as a revenge mission. The state argued successfully that the shootings were carried out in direct retaliation for another death that had occurred just days prior to the August 2022 incident. This cycle of violence was central to the conspiracy charges, as investigators traced a series of communications and movements that linked Wilson to the broader plan to eliminate the two victims as part of an ongoing dispute.

Defense Claims of Ignorance Rejected by Presiding Judge

During the Monday morning proceedings, defense attorney Tim Rensch maintained that his client was not a willing participant in a lethal plot. Rensch asserted to the court that Wilson still maintains he was unaware that a double murder was going to take place on the day of the incident. However, Judge Linngren was firm in her assessment of the evidence, stating on the record that there was "no doubt" that violence was the pre-meditated plan for that day. The court found that Wilson’s involvement met the high threshold required for a first degree murder conviction under South Dakota’s aiding and abetting statutes.