PIERRE, S.D. (CN) — Minutes before the vote that would remove South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg from office for running down and killing a pedestrian nearly two years ago, a longtime lawmaker stood on the floor of the Senate and said his fellow Republican had to go.
“Picture that person you know, walking where they are supposed to be on the road, like hundreds, if not thousands of South Dakotans do every year. Now picture a vehicle coming at them at highway speeds,” said Senator Lee Schoenbeck of Watertown, South Dakota, his voice trembling.
“There is no question that this person ran down an innocent South Dakotan. Ran him down!”
A vast majority of his fellow senators — almost all Republicans in this conservative state — agreed. Prosecutors in Ravnsborg’s impeachment met the two-thirds standard on both counts he was charged with, removing him from office for his actions during and after the death of pedestrian Joseph Boever on Sept. 12, 2020, who Ravnsborg struck on a darkened road near the city of Highmore, roughly 50 miles east of the capital, Pierre.
After the results of the vote were read out, the chamber was silent. Then Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden, the president of the senate, brought down the gavel with a startling crack.
Members of Boever’s family watched in the gallery, relieved. Nick Nemec, 63, who helped identify his cousin’s body after it was discovered the day after Ravnsborg killed him, described the votes as an important sign that state government is, “not just good ol’ boys slapping each other on the back.”
Said Nemec: “Had he remained in office, the people of South Dakota would have lost faith in their government.”
Ravnsborg announced earlier this month that he would not seek reelection. He was first elected in 2018.
The Senate tried Ravnsborg under two articles: The first for causing the death of Boever, 55, the second for malfeasance in office following Boever’s death.
Ravnsborg was driving home from a political fundraiser the night he struck Boever, who was walking along the shoulder of a U.S. Highway 14, carrying a flashlight.
Ravnsborg called 911, identifying himself as the attorney general, telling the dispatcher he had hit something. He surveyed the road but couldn’t find a deer — hitting a deer while driving is a common occurrence on rural South Dakota roads.
Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek lent Ravnsborg one of his personal vehicles so he could drive back to Pierre; Ravnsborg’s 2011 Ford Taurus was too damaged for safe travel. It wasn’t until the next day, when Ravnsborg returned to the scene, that he found Boever’s body.
Because of the potential for conflicts of interest, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation was called in to investigate. Its investigators later testified that though Ravnsborg initially told law enforcement that he was not on his phone while driving, this was untrue. He changed his story after they confronted him, with Ravnsborg admitting that he had checked his email on the road. He was not actually on his phone when the crash occurred.
One investigator said that during an interview, the attorney general seemingly admitted that he had seen Boever’s body after getting out of his car the night of the collision, but then immediately backtracked.
Ultimately, authorities charged Ravnsborg with three misdemeanors: careless driving, using a mobile electronic device while driving and failing to stay in his lane. The careless driving charge was dropped as Ravnsborg pleaded no contest in August 2021 to the other counts. He faced no felony charges.
But momentum for Ravnsborg to leave office built up as details of the crash came out. Kristi Noem, the state’s GOP governor with reported national ambitions, called for him to resign, but he remained in office.
It seemed for a while that Ravnsborg’s career might survive. The State House Select Committee on Investigations voted in March to recommend the attorney general not be impeached for his actions, with only the committee’s two Democrats voting to signal the State Senate should try him.
But the next month, facing potential blowback from constituents, the full House voted with a slim majority to send the matter over to the Senate for trial. The trial was scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, but the defense did not present any witnesses. Senators instead voted on the matter at the end of the day Tuesday.
Prosecutors argued that Ravnsborg was somehow distracted at the time of the collision, that he was driving on the shoulder with all four tires, and that when he struck Boever, he knew he had struck him, for the body rode on the vehicle for a full two seconds before falling off.
Boever’s body had struck Ravnsborg’s windshield, breaking it. Boever’s glasses broke on impact; part of them were in the front seat area and part of them in the rear.
“How one responds to those life-altering moments define a person,” said Alexis Tracy, Clay County states attorney and one of the prosecutors on Tuesday. “Failed opportunities to do the right thing by Attorney General Ravnsborg brought us here today.”
Prosecutors argued that Ravnsborg was driving in the course of his duties. He identified himself as the attorney general in the initial 911 call, after all.
In the days after the crash he had improper contact with South Dakota state law enforcement, they argued, asking what kind of data investigators could get from his cellphone, whether they could tell if he used his flashlight or sent emails.
“By deed and by word, Jason Ravnsborg has forfeited his ability to serve in office,” said prosecutor Mark Vargo, an attorney for Pennington County, in closing arguments.
Ravnsborg’s defense consisted of impeachment lawyer Ross Garber and criminal defense attorney Mike Butler of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They argued that impeachment was rare, would create separation-of-powers issues, that the collision did not happen during the course of Ravnsbog’s duties and that he had cooperated with investigators.
“The system trusts the voters. It trusts the political process,” Garber told the senators during opening arguments. “This is undoing the will of the voters. Make no mistake that is what you are doing.”
Butler pointed out that he surrendered his cellphones voluntarily and sat for interviews with investigators without counsel present, something he knew full well he didn’t have to do.
“At every stage of this investigation, the attorney general consented to everything,” Butler said. “These are not the actions of a man concealing wrongdoing.”
Ultimately, senators convicted Ravnsborg with 24 votes, the minimum needed on the first count. But 31 senators voted to convict on the malfeasance count. The two votes to bar Ravnsborg from future office in South Dakota were unanimous.
Governor Noem will select his replacement for the remainder of his term. The GOP convention later this week in Watertown will select the nominee for the November election. That person will likely be the favorite in this Republican-dominated state.
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