Disgusted, but not surprised

In an investigation that seems complicated, and appears cut and dry, mounting evidence strongly suggests that South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is morally bankrupt. 

Late on Sept. 12, 2020, while driving home from a GOP fundraiser, Ravnsborg struck and killed Joseph Boever of Highmore, with his vehicle and drove away. 

From the start of this case, there hasn’t been a moment in my head where I thought that the attorney general accepted responsibility or handed appropriate consequences for his actions. 

According to NBC News, Ravnsborg was charged in February – five months after Boever’s death – with only three misdemeanors: careless driving, driving out of his lane, and operating a motor vehicle while on his phone.

The charges are so inconsequential he might as well have struck a mailbox. 

Instead of accepting the consequences of those charges – which only amount to  30 days in jail plus a fine of up to $500 per charge, totaling 90 days and $1,500, according to NBC News, he is pleading not guilty. 

NBC News also  reported that investigators found Boever’s glasses inside Ravnsborg’s car. 

An interview with Ravnsborg, released by the South Dakota Department of Public Safety on Feb. 23, and published in the Washington Post Feb. 24,  one of the  detectives stated, “They’re Joe’s glasses, so that means his face came through your windshield.” 

The Post also reported that Boever was carrying a flashlight as he walked along the road’s shoulder. 

At the beginning of the investigation, Ravnsborg said he didn’t know what he hit. 

If Boever was carrying a light in his hand as he walked on the shoulder of the road, and, if after he was hit, his face smashed through Ravnsborg’s windshield, leaving damaged eyeglasses inside Ravnsborg’s car, as investigators reported, then how is it possible Ravnsborg was not aware that he hit Boever? Boever should not have been hit. Ravnsborg’s not-guilty plea adds insult to injury for Boever’s family. 

In February, the South Dakota House of Representatives passed a resolution stating it might impeach the attorney general. 

The idea that there possibly are no real consequences for the attorney general is disgusting. 

If the South Dakota legislature fails to impeach him, and if the judges find him not guilty for the three misdemeanors, then Ravnsborg will have killed a man and walked away without consequences. That is a mockery of the justice system he serves.

I believe Ravnsborg is no longer fit to serve as my home state’s attorney general. 

If he is morally okay with weaseling out of the consequences of killing Joseph Boever, then I don’t think he matches the morals of many South Dakotans. Ravnsborg’s refusal to resign makes it clear he thinks he has done no wrong. 

Of South Dakota’s 66 county state’s attorneys, 59 have now endorsed former South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, instead of Ravnsborg, for re-election. 

I think that underscores the point that South Dakotans do not trust Ravnsborg.  

Should Ravnsborg fail to resign, I hope that the state legislature impeaches him, giving Boever and his family the justice they deserve.