South Dakota
Related: About this forumSouth Dakota AG gets fines, no jail time in pedestrian death
FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg pleaded no contest Thursday to a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges over a crash last year that killed a pedestrian, avoiding jail time despite bitter complaints from the victims family that he was being too lightly punished for actions they called inexcusable.
Circuit Judge John Brown had little leeway to order jail time. Instead, he fined the states top law enforcement official $500 for each count plus court costs of $3,742. Brown also ordered the Republican to do a significant public service event in each of the next five years near the date of Joseph Boevers death granting a request from the Boever family. But he put that on hold pending a final ruling after Ravnsborgs attorney objected that it was not allowed by statute.
Ravnsborg said in a statement after the hearing that he plans to remain in office. The plea capped the criminal portion of a case that led Gov. Kristi Noem a fellow Republican and law enforcement groups around the state to call for his resignation. But he still faces a likely lawsuit from Boevers widow and a potential impeachment attempt.
Ravnsborgs statement accused partisan opportunists of exploiting the situation and said they had manufactured rumors, conspiracy theories and made statements in direct contradiction to the evidence all sides agreed upon.
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https://apnews.com/article/south-dakota-0ec1a028f08df4b63718cf12c9d232da
'His face was in your windshield': South Dakota AG faces impeachment charges as new details of fatal crash emerge
In interviews made public by Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday, investigators suggested to Ravnsborg that he should have known better, because the dead man's broken glasses were found inside his Ford Taurus.
"His face was in your windshield, Jason, think about that, one of the investigators told him in the interview.
The Republican attorney general faces three misdemeanor charges but no felonies in the September death of 55-year-old Joseph Boever.
Murderer
walkingman
(8,279 posts)hlthe2b
(106,064 posts)"didn't know he'd hit anyone" though the poor guy's eyeglasses came through the windshield and were found in the car.
Damn. Unbelievable. I don't support vigilante justice EVER, but I can certainly understand the temptation with this horrific miscarriage of justice.
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)SergeStorms
(19,312 posts)you still call the police to file a report for insurance purposes. He was blind, stinking drunk.
If he was so sure he hit a deer, why did he return to the scene THE NEXT DAY? Because he'd sobered up by then?
This republican piece of shit belongs in prison.