{"id":34074,"date":"2022-06-24T06:49:37","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T11:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/attorney-general-removed-from-job-can-never-hold-elective-office-again\/"},"modified":"2022-06-24T06:49:39","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T11:49:39","slug":"attorney-general-removed-from-job-can-never-hold-elective-office-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/attorney-general-removed-from-job-can-never-hold-elective-office-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney general removed from job, can never hold elective office again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Souoth Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has been removed from office<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

PIERRE \u2014 The South Dakota Senate voted on Tuesday to uphold the articles of impeachment offered by the House removing Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg from office. The Senate also voted unanimously to keep Ravnsborg from ever again holding elective office in South Dakota.<\/p>\n

A two-thirds majority\u201424 of 35 senators\u2014was needed to convict Ravnsborg. On the first article of impeachment, the two misdemeanors Ravnsborg was charged with following the death of Joseph Boever of Highmore, the senate voted 24-9 to convict. On the second article of impeachment, that Ravnsborg lied to law enforcement and used the resources of his office for the betterment of his case, the senate voted 31-2.<\/p>\n

The senate then voted on whether Ravnsborg should be barred from holding elective office. The vote for each article of impeachment was 33-0. Two senators were excused from the day\u2019s proceedings.<\/p>\n

The first words senators heard, the opening statement of the prosecution, offered an argument in the morning that senators would agree with in the early evening. Clay County State\u2019s Attorney Alexis Tracy, one of the impeachment prosecutors, told lawmakers that Ravnsborg should be impeached for the crimes he committed in the death of Boever. She maintained that he lied to law enforcement during the investigation and improperly used the resources of his office during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Returning to Pierre from a Lincoln Day dinner in Redfield on the evening of Sept. 12, 2020, Ravnsborg\u2019s car struck and killed Boever. Thinking he may have hit a deer, Ravnsborg and the Hyde County Sheriff conducted a cursory search of the area in the dark. Ravnsborg returned to Pierre in the sheriff\u2019s personal vehicle and returned the next day to find Boever\u2019s body on the side of the road.<\/p>\n

Ravnsborg was originally charged with three misdemeanors. A careless driving charge was dropped in exchange for no-contest pleas on two charges: an illegal lane change for driving on the shoulder of the highway and the illegal use of an electronic device while operating a vehicle. He was fined $500 each for those offenses.<\/p>\n

In Ravnsborg\u2019s defense, Ross Garber, a professor at Tulane Law School and an expert on impeachment, told senators that they were faced with a unique situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredibly rare, what\u2019s being contemplated here,\u201d Garber said of impeachment. \u201cIt\u2019s quite a thing to reverse the will of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garber said a conviction on the articles of impeachment would send the wrong message about the separation of powers in government and the stability of elections.<\/p>\n

Ravnsborg\u2019s other counsel, Michael Butler of Sioux Falls, said that far from deceiving law enforcement, the attorney general consented to turning over his phones and sitting for an interview without legal counsel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe waived the right and went and answered questions,\u201d Butler said. \u201cThe attorney general consented to everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler took exception to the prosecutor\u2019s argument that Ravnsborg had lied to law enforcement. \u201cIf you know he lied, don\u2019t just say it, prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler was also the first to bring up what would be a recurring theme throughout the trial: a lie detector test that Ravnsborg volunteered to take but was never administered.<\/p>\n

Joe Arenz of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation said that polygraph tests aren\u2019t used in every instance. He said it was unlikely that Ravnsborg would be unable to answer questions about what he knew about the accident and when he knew it without having the test make him appear as if he wasn\u2019t telling the truth. (The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation worked on the case because it involved the attorney general of South Dakota.)<\/p>\n

Butler asked Arenz to explain the decision not to offer a polygraph. Arenz said Ravnsborg has seen Boever\u2019s body along the side of the road. The test would likely be faulty, Arenz said, because law enforcement couldn\u2019t be sure that \u201cmental image wasn\u2019t going to pop up with every question we asked.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day\u2019s first witness, Sgt. Kevin Kinney of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, talked about his role in reconstructing the crash on U.S. Highway 14. By using blood evidence, paint chips and vehicle debris, Kinney was able to determine the area of impact with a 95% degree of certainty.<\/p>\n

Using the same data, Kinney said he had \u201c100% confidence that he was driving down the shoulder of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defense showed video clips from Ravnsborg\u2019s interviews with law enforcement where he claimed that he was driving is his lane, and not on the shoulder of the road. He also told investigators that he usually doesn\u2019t drive more than four miles an hour over the posted speed limit. GPS data from the attorney general\u2019s phone showed that at times during his trip from Redfield to Highmore, his speed was 68 mph to 71 mph.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kinney said a test of Ravnsborg\u2019s speedometer showed that if was off by three to five miles per hour, so when he was traveling 71 mph his speedometer could have shown his speed was as much as 76 mph.<\/p>\n

Retired Department of Criminal Investigation employee Brent Gromer testified that he was troubled by a conversation he had with Ravnsborg after the accident. Having had no private conversations with the attorney general up to that point, on the day Ravnsborg turned his state phone over to investigators the attorney general pulled Gromer aside to quiz him about what sort of information could be found on his phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started referring to his own phone,\u201d Gromer said. \u201cHe was talking about facts in the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

This made Gromer uncomfortable, he said, because DCI was not supposed to have a role in the investigation since the attorney general runs that department.<\/p>\n

Both the prosecution and the defense spent a long time with Arnie Rummel of the N.D. Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Rummel testified to his concerns about the attorney general\u2019s truthfulness during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Rummel said investigators recreated the moments leading up to the accident. He dressed as Boever had been that night, with a dark shirt and jeans. He also carried the flashlight that Boever had been using the night of the accident. Rummel said investigators on the scene had no trouble seeing him from quite a ways away as he walked along the side of the road, in the dark, with the flashlight.<\/p>\n

Butler said he was concerned that Rummel\u2019s opinions about Ravnsborg\u2019s truthfulness were not included in his BCI reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a word about a number of these opinions you expressed,\u201d Butler said, then going on to establish that Rummel had been talking to the prosecutors prior to the trial. \u201cThey\u2019re aware of much of what you were saying here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his closing statement, prosecutor Mark Vargo, the Pennington County State\u2019s Attorney, said Ravnsborg showed a high degree of distraction in his driving prior to the accident\u2014making calls, checking emails and scrolling headlines on his phone.<\/p>\n

Vargo noted the Ravnsborg had all four tires over the fog line as well as the rumble strip, a safety measure he called a \u201cwarning sign on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his closing statement, Garber made the case for always letting the voters decide who is going to be their attorney general. As a law professor, he said, it would be easy for him to explain an acquittal to his students. \u201cIt will be very hard to explain a conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Kristi Noem will appoint a replacement for Ravnsborg.<\/p>\n

The post Attorney general removed from job, can never hold elective office again<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Souoth Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has been removed from office PIERRE \u2014 The South Dakota Senate voted on Tuesday to uphold the articles of impeachment offered by the House removing Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg from office. The Senate also voted unanimously to keep Ravnsborg from ever again holding elective <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> June 24, 2022<\/p>\n

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