Every member of the public has the same access to court records as provided in this rule, except as provided otherwise by statute or rule and except as provided in § 15-15A-7. "Public" includes:

1. (1) any person and any business or non-profit entity, organization or association;
2. (2) any governmental agency for which there is no existing policy, statute or rule defining the agency's access to court records;
3. (3) media organizations. "Public" does not include:
4. (4) court or clerk of court employees;
5. (5) people or entities, private or governmental, who assist the court in providing court services;
6. (6) public agencies whose access to court records is defined by another statute, rule, order, policy or database access agreement with the South Dakota Unified Judicial System;
7. (7) the parties to a case or their lawyers regarding access to the court record in their case, which may be defined by statute or rule.

Source: SL 2004, ch 333 (Supreme Court Rule 04-06), eff. July 1, 2004; SL 2005, ch 291 (Supreme Court Rule 05-05), eff. Feb. 25, 2005.