15-year sentence for deadly assault

Kaleb Daniel Martin, a 27-year-old from Alliance, Nebraska, was sentenced on September 9, 2026, to 15 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary. This sentence is for a fatal stabbing that took place in April 2025 at a Sioux Falls apartment complex. Martin was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and second-degree manslaughter.

On July 22, Martin entered a guilty plea for the charges. The judge handed down the maximum sentence allowable for each offense, totaling 25 years. However, 10 years of this sentence were suspended, and 510 days were credited as time served. The victim, Virgil Wayne Hawking III, was 43 years old at the time of his death.