SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A deadly incident outside a Sioux Falls gas station has people talking about what qualifies as "self-defense" under South Dakota law. Late Thursday night, a father and son - armed with bats - confronted a man who they thought was someone else. According to court documents, he told investigators when the father and son started swinging the bats at him, he shot them in self-defense. Under South Dakota law, a person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if they reasonably believe it's necessary to prevent a forcible felony. The 'stand your ground' law does not apply if you are doing something illegal. "If you broke into somebody's house, you wouldn't have the right to stand your ground. But if you were out at a public place that you had every right to be at and somebody walked up to you and was threatening you, threatening to assault you, threatening to rob you or to commit a robbery, you would have the right to use deadly force and be justified in that," South Dakota attorney Nicole Laughlin said. Authorities ask for help with Pine Ridge robbery Additionally, the law reads that a person who uses or threatens to use deadly force, does not have a duty to retreat. "Even if a person could run into a room and hide or get away safely, you have the right in South Dakota now to stand your ground and fight back," Laughlin said. It also states that a person is immune from prosecution, meaning they can't be arrested, charged or indicted if they were standing their ground. But when this isn't the case, and a person is charged, it's up to their attorney to file a motion. "If you think about what the words stand your ground is, that means I'm going to stand here and I'm going to eliminate the threat. So, it really does give a lot more discretion to the person who is standing their ground of what they think they need to do to eliminate that threat," Laughlin said. "Certainly, a prosecutor, if they're going to charge someone, can come in and say, 'hey, we think this was excessive. We don't think that this was standing your ground.'" Laughlin is an attorney with Laughlin Law in Sioux Falls. She adds while the law was passed in 2021, attorneys are still reinventing their playbooks on how they handle self-defense cases going forward. "I just spoke with a judge the other day who said, I just anticipate in all of these cases where we have a murder or a manslaughter, that we're going to be having these stand your ground hearings and that I expect the defense counsel is going to make them so it's an additional motion to be made," Laughlin said. "These hearings take one to two days. The attorneys have to brief the issues. It's a lot of work for us and a definite change in what criminal defense attorneys are doing in South Dakota." The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that the law is not retroactive, meaning the 'stand your ground law' does not apply to cases that occurred before its effective date. If charges are filed and a case moves forward, a jury may ultimately decide if it's a case of self-defense.