Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
A Peever, South Dakota man has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for assaulting his spouse with a deadly weapon. U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann handed down the sentence to Terry Wayne Sterling Heminger, 27, on June 16, 2025.
Heminger received a sentence of five years and ten months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
The charges against Heminger were brought after an incident on December 23, 2022, when he assaulted his spouse with a hammer. The attack resulted in serious injuries to the victim's skull, leading to complete vision loss in one eye and partial loss in the other. The victim required several metal plates for treatment.
The case was prosecuted under the Major Crimes Act, which requires certain violent crimes occurring in Indian Country to be tried in federal court rather than state court. The investigation was conducted by the FBI and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Law Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Ebert-Webb led the prosecution.
Following his sentencing, Heminger was remanded into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.
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