South Dakota AG impeachment probe questions investigators

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

South Dakota AG impeachment probe questions investigators

By STEPHEN GROVES
January 20, 2022

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota lawmakers weighing impeachment charges for the state’s attorney general on Tuesday drilled into the investigation of his fatal car crash in 2020, spending hours questioning the law enforcement officers and a specialist who analyzed the crash.

Nearly all of the House investigative committee’s work has so far happened behind closed doors, but the committee of seven Republicans and two Democrats met in public Tuesday to question the law enforcement officers who investigated Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg after he struck and killed a man walking along a rural stretch of highway in September of 2020. The committee has pledged to release much of the crash investigation files, but it was not clear when they would.

The committee has been tasked with sifting through the crash investigation and recommending whether Ravnsborg, the state’s top law enforcement officer, should face impeachment charges in the House. Ravnsborg, a Republican elected to his first term in 2018, first reported the crash as a collision with an animal and has insisted that he did not realize he had killed the man, 55-year-old Joseph Boever, until he returned to the scene the next day and discovered his body.

Lawmakers focused their attention on questioning the Highway Patrol’s investigation, raising doubts about the crash report that determined Ravnsborg’s car had crossed onto the shoulder of the highway. At times, the law enforcement officers who oversaw the crash investigation faced aggressive, rapid-fire questions from the committee.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/south-dakota-impeachments-46b502161253e0d2abe4d0a0a9e43494

[70sEraVet]

1. I'm sure the family of the guy who was killed would like to see SOME kind of justice!

[crickets]

2. Three misdemeanor charges. Whoop-de-doo.

https://apnews.com/article/jason-ravnsborg-charged-3-misdemanors-192acb129ad9cf2c901f9d26a2ba7e11

South Dakota’s Republican attorney general was charged Thursday with three misdemeanors for striking and killing a man with his car last summer, avoiding more serious felony charges in a case that raised questions about how the state’s top law enforcement official first reported the crash.

Jason Ravnsborg could face up to 30 days in jail and up to a $500 fine on each charge: careless driving, driving out of his lane and operating a motor vehicle while on his phone. [snip]

Hyde County Deputy State’s Attorney Emily Sovell said the evidence simply didn’t support felony charges of vehicular homicide or manslaughter, which could have meant years of prison time. She noted Ravnsborg wasn’t intoxicated, and that a manslaughter charge would have required the state to show he “consciously and unjustifiably” disregarded a substantial risk. [snip]

Nick Nemec, Boever’s cousin, said Thursday he was “disappointed, but not surprised” at the charges. He called South Dakota’s manslaughter law “weak” and that he expected his family to take civil action against Ravnsborg.

Unreal. Here's hoping the family has more luck in civil court, and that the impeachment goes forward successfully.