RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office announced today that Timothy Huante has entered an Alford plea to accessory to murder in connection with the February 20, 2022, death of 30-year-old Dallas Quick Bear at Teddy’s Bar in Rapid City. Huante was sentenced this morning to five years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed by law. An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea in which the defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the prosecution has sufficient evidence from which a jury could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The plea follows more than four years of extensive litigation as the State sought to hold Huante accountable for Quick Bear’s death, including an appeal to the South Dakota Supreme Court that resulted in a ruling favorable to the State.

The State originally charged Huante with first-degree murder and remained prepared to pursue that charge despite challenges with the case, including discrepancies in eyewitness accounts from patrons at the bar where Quick Bear was killed. More recently, a ruling barring testimony from a key state witness, along with expected testimony from a defense expert calling into question the reliability of admissions made by Huante, further impacted the evidence prosecutors would have been able to present to a jury and, ultimately, the State’s ability to prove the murder charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Dallas Quick Bear and his family have remained at the center of our efforts throughout this case,” Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel said. “The fact that this case did not ultimately resolve with a murder conviction does not diminish the work that law enforcement and our prosecutors have put into seeking justice for Dallas. Prosecutors also have an ethical responsibility to continually evaluate the evidence in a case and pursue only those charges we believe can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. As the evidence available to present to a jury changed, so did our assessment of the charge we could responsibly pursue,” Roetzel continued.

Huante has been incarcerated in the Pennington County Jail since his arrest in 2022. Following today’s sentencing, he was remanded for transport to the South Dakota State Penitentiary to serve the remainder of his five-year sentence.

Huante also faces a federal charge for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.