South Dakota Man Gets 7 Years in Killing of Two-Spirit Victim
Gregory Landers pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the 2022 shooting of Acey Morrison after claiming he acted in self-defense.
Gregory Landers, a 56-year-old South Dakota man, was sentenced to seven years in prison for fatally shooting Acey Morrison, a 30-year-old two-spirit individual he met through a dating app. The killing occurred at his Rapid City trailer on Aug. 21, 2022.
The case drew national attention because nearly 18 months passed between Landers’ 911 call reporting the killing and his indictment by a Rapid City grand jury in February 2024 on charges of first-degree manslaughter, along with drug and firearm offenses. The manslaughter charge was later reduced to second-degree manslaughter as part of a plea deal.
As reported by South Dakota Searchlight in 2024, prosecutors alleged that Landers and Morrison met through a dating app and arranged to meet at Landers’ residence. The next morning, Landers allegedly shot and killed Morrison. When he called 911 to report the shooting, he claimed he had acted in self-defense — a claim he maintained throughout months of court hearings.
Most of the documents, exhibits, photos, and transcripts associated with Landers’ effort to have the manslaughter charge dismissed under South Dakota’s “Stand Your Ground” law are sealed. However, the documents that are public suggest how Landers was prepared to argue that he killed Morrison in self-defense.
Landers said he had let Morrison stay the night, but that she refused to leave when he asked. He claimed he wrestled a shotgun away from Morrison, breaking his ribs in the process, before shooting her in the chest.
Court documents say he was treated for bruised ribs and a broken hand after the incident. The lead investigator in the case characterized the break to Landers’ hand as a “boxer’s fracture,” an injury typically associated with punching someone or something.
Court documents also indicate Landers sought to hire an expert to re-check the weapon for DNA. In a letter to Judge Heidi Linngren, he called himself an innocent man and wrote that he should not be convicted because of “incompetent” DNA testing.
The testing found Morrison’s DNA on the weapon, including near the barrel of the gun, though the weapon contained more of Landers’ DNA. Morrison’s left index finger was blown off in the shooting — consistent with her hands being “at the top of the barrel of the muzzle at the time of discharge” — according to a motion from Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel asking Linngren to deny Landers’ request for immunity from prosecution.
Roetzel argued in her motion that Landers accused Morrison of performing a factory reset of his phone, presumably to steal and sell it. He later admitted he had wiped the phone’s memory to conceal information from law enforcement.
According to Roetzel, Landers also said he and Morrison had not had sex, despite DNA evidence to the contrary. He also claimed the physical fight between them took place in a bedroom and a closet that were undisturbed when officers arrived.
“Defendant says he acted in self-defense, but his words have little meaning, given the number of lies he has been caught telling,” Roetzel wrote in the motion to Linngren.
Following Landers’ sentencing, Roetzel said in a statement that the case was “incredibly challenging,” according to South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
“In a homicide investigation, when only one person survives to tell their side of the story, we must rely heavily on the evidence at the scene to determine what happened,” Roetzel said. “In this case, there were significant inconsistencies between Mr. Landers’ account and the physical evidence, which pointed to dishonesty on his part. The evidence strongly suggested that he killed Acey Morrison, though the exact motive remains unclear.”
She added that factual inconsistencies at the scene, combined with a lack of witness testimony, led her to offer Landers a plea deal, which he accepted about a week before his trial was scheduled to begin. Roetzel’s office agreed to drop the remaining charges against him as part of the agreement.
“Ms. Morrison can no longer speak for herself, so it was our duty to seek justice on her behalf,” Roetzel said.
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