IMPEACHED-South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg Convicted
After 21 months following a fatal car crash that killed pedestrian Joseph Boever, the South Dakota Senate has voted to impeach Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
On Tuesday Senators along with Ravnsborg and his attorneys gathered at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre for the impeachment proceedings. Senators voted to convict Ravnsborg on both articles of impeachment leveled against the AG Tuesday evening.
The first impeachment article was regarding the crash that killed Boever. Senators voted 24-9.
As Dakota News Now reports, Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher the night of the crash that he might have struck a deer or other large animal and has said he didn’t know he struck a man until he returned to the scene the next morning. Criminal investigators said they didn’t believe some of Ravnsborg’s statements about it.
As to article two, malfeasance in office, the vote was 31-2.
Senator Josh Klumb of Mitchell was quoted to say, "That was because he was lying to law enforcement. That's something that someone should never do, especially the top cop in the state."
Since Ravnsborg was elected Attorney General, he has received eight traffic warnings and video evidence shows him using his title to evade consequences. Through the investigation, the South Dakota Highway Patrol notes that Ravnsborg has been pulled over numerous times going back to 1996.
~JP Skelly also contributed to this story