PIERRE — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley recently announced that the discovery of new forensic evidence has led to the prosecutor’s dismissal of charges against Theodore Kranig Jr., 19, in the 2024 stabbing death of a Yankton man.

“Forensic testing of evidence conducted by the attorney general’s State Forensic Lab in the Yankton stabbing case raises questions as to the defendant’s guilt at this time,” Jackley said. “Prosecutors have an ethical obligation to pursue justice and simply not count convictions at the expense of that pursuit.”

Kranig Jr. was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the first degree in the incident that happened Dec. 13 at a Yankton residence. The defendant was released Wednesday from the Yankton County Jail, where he was being held.

Jackley said the case remains under investigation.