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Joe Sneve
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Danielle Ferguson
| Sioux Falls Argus Leader
Jason Ravnsborg 911 call: Officials release audio from call after fatal accident
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg called 911 after attacking and killing Joe Boever on September 12. He told a dispatcher that he did not know what he had achieved.
Sioux Falls Argus Leader
Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s future as the state’s top prosecutor suffered two blows on Tuesday after Governor Kristi Noem said he should resign and House of Representatives lawmakers started the impeachment process.
The events followed last week’s allegations against Ravnsborg in the September 12, 2020 death of Joseph Boever, 55, who was hit by Ravnsborg while walking on Highway 14 West of Highmore.
In asking for his resignation, Noem said more material related to the investigation would be made public. Videos of interviews conducted by investigators with Ravnsborg were expected to be released later that day.
“Now that the investigation is over and the charges have been made, I believe the attorney general should resign,” said Noem. “I have reviewed the material we are releasing as of today, and I encourage others to review it as well.”
After Noem’s announcement, House Republicans gathered for a closed-door caucus session that was so late that the start of Tuesday’s plenary session was delayed for more than an hour. After they emerged, Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Pierre, announced that he had filed two articles of impeachment against Ravnsborg.
“This is not political and it is not personal,” said Mortenson, who is a lawyer in his first term in the legislature. “Once again, I do not believe that Attorney General Ravnsborg belongs to the prison, but I know that he no longer belongs to the Attorney General’s Office.”
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‘It’s about doing the right thing for South Dakota’
Mortenson’s resolution was co-sponsored by Republican and Democratic leaders in the House, majority leader Kent Peterson of Salem and minority leader Jamie Smith of Sioux Falls.
“This is not about party or politics,” Peterson said in a statement. “It’s about doing the right thing for South Dakota. We must keep our elected leaders to a high standard. In this case, the attorney general did not comply with this rule and we owe it to the people to present these articles. “
Smith said what happened was a tragedy for everyone involved.
“However, that cannot stop us from fulfilling our obligations,” said Smith. “The attorney general has lost the confidence of the people of South Dakota and should be removed from office for the good of the state.”
A spokesman for Ravnsborg declined to comment on Tuesday, but said on Monday that Ravnsborg had no intention of resigning.
Ravnsborg has not spoken publicly since prosecutors last week announced the charges he will face after a five-month investigation into the accident.
Ravnsborg was returning from a political dinner in Redfield when authorities say his car fell off the shoulder of Highway 14, hitting Boever. Ravnsborg’s vehicle suffered serious damage and, after pulling over, reported the accident to the dispatch, saying he did not know what he had hit.
Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek responded and the two searched for what they believed to be a deer. Volek gave Ravnsborg a stag tag for his car insurance and then lent the attorney general a personal vehicle to return to Pierre.
Ravnsborg stopped at the scene the next morning when he returned Volek’s car. That’s when he discovered Boever’s body.
North Dakota law enforcement helped with the investigation to protect it from perceptions of conflict of interest. The investigation was then handed over to a group of state prosecutors to decide which charges Ravnsborg should face.
Finally, the attorney general escaped more serious criminal charges after state prosecutors filed three counts of misdemeanor, including careless driving.
Articles: Ravnsborg’s actions were ‘inappropriate’
Although Ravnsborg was not charged with a crime, the South Dakota Constitution includes a series of broad provisions that allow impeachment of a state constitutional officer, including misdemeanors.
In addition to the misdemeanor charges, the impeachment resolution says that Ravnsborg “took improper actions by the attorney general” during the reporting of the investigation and the resulting investigation.
“Jason Ravnsborg’s statements and actions did not meet the standards of the attorney general’s office,” says the resolution.
According to the state constitution, Ravnsborg would be impeached if a simple majority in the House voted for impeachment. An impeachment vote would trigger a Senate trial. If two-thirds of the senators voted to condemn, Ravnsborg would be removed from office and prevented from holding another public office in the state.
No elected officials across the state were impeached, although there were requests in 1935 for impeachment of Governor Tom Berry by union leaders after the Democratic governor used troops to stop a strike at the John Morrell plant in Sioux Falls.