Gregory J. Stoltenburg
Gregory J. Stoltenburg (born 1964) is an American lawyer, veteran, and the presiding judge of the Third Judicial Circuit in South Dakota. He was born in Clear Lake, South Dakota, and earned a BS in Agricultural Business and Commercial Economics from South Dakota State University in 1986, followed by a JD from the University of South Dakota in 1995 with Sterling honors. He joined the South Dakota Army National Guard in 1981 and served on active duty in the Gulf War in 1991; he also volunteered after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Stoltenburg clerked for Justice John K. Konenkamp of the South Dakota Supreme Court before returning to practice law in Clear Lake in 1996. He served in the Army JAG Corps, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2017.
He was Deuel County Deputy States Attorney from 1996 to 2000 and Deuel County States Attorney from 2000 to 2012. In October 2012, Governor Dennis Daugaard appointed him to replace David Gienapp, and Stoltenburg took office as a circuit judge on January 1, 2013. He was re-elected in 2014 for a term that runs through 2022. In April 2015, he was named presiding judge of the Third Circuit by Chief Justice David Gilbertson. He has sat on the South Dakota Supreme Court bench on several cases. Stoltenburg is a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Clear Lake and is active in community organizations. He and his wife, Lynn, have five children.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:59 (CET).