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‘Justice or No?’ South Dakota AG escapes impeachment after killing man in hit-and-run and claiming he thought he hit a deer: House committee decides there is ‘not sufficient ground to remove him from office’

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>South Dakota AG Jason Ravnsborg&comma; 45&comma; completely evaded censure and impeachment on Monday&comma; a year-and-a-half after killing Joseph Boever&comma; 55&comma; in a hit-and-run <&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>Boever was walking along a highway near the small city of Highmore when he was hit&period; The AG told investigators he thought he had hit a deer&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>Ravnsborg later discovered the body the next morning on his way to return the car to Sheriff Mike Volek <&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>He was charged with three misdemeanors&comma; pleading no contest to two in a deal and reckless driving was dismissed<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>The sum of his restitution to date&comma; comprises of two &dollar;500 fines and &dollar;3&comma;000 in court fees&comma; as well as participating in a district driving education<&sol;strong> <&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>A special committee on Monday determined it didn&&num;8217&semi;t have enough evidence to impeach the AG and said he &&num;8216&semi;did not commit misdemeanor in office&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>Voting along party lines&comma; a House Special Investigative Committee of six Republicans and two Democrats decided 6-2 against recommending impeachment <&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-color wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;362929&semi;font-size&colon;16px"><strong>&&num;8216&semi;Jason Ravnsborg killed a man&comma; lied to investigators about the events of that night&comma; and attempted to cover it up&period; Joseph Boever’s family deserves justice&&num;8217&semi;&nbsp&semi;&&num;8211&semi; fellow Republican&comma; <strong>Gov&period; Kristi Noem<&sol;strong>&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;Jason-Ravnsborg-2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-354516" width&equals;"842" height&equals;"550"&sol;><figcaption><strong>South Dakota state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg&comma; &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; completely avoided being censured and was not impeached on Monday&comma; a year and a half after killing Joseph Boever&comma; 55&comma; on September 12&comma; 2020 in a hit-and-run<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">South Dakota&&num;8217&semi;s attorney general Jason Ravnsborg&comma; a Republican&comma; will not be impeached after he killed a man in a hit-and-run &&num;8211&semi; and then told authorities he thought he slammed into a deer &&num;8211&semi; because officials said there was not sufficient grounds to remove him from office&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>Ravnsborg&comma; 45&comma; avoided being censured a year-and-a-half after killing&nbsp&semi;Joseph Boever&comma; 55&comma; on&nbsp&semi;September 12&comma; 2020 while Boever was walking along a highway near the small city of Highmore&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>The South Dakota AG may be done with facing any consequences&comma; after moves to obtain censure was turned into a political football&period; <br>According to a House Select Committee 22-page report released Monday&comma; there were not sufficient grounds to remove Ravnsborg from office&period; <br>A special investigative committee comprising of six Republicans and two democrats set up to examine the fatal hit-and-run voting along party lines&comma; decided 6-2 against recommending impeachment&comma; with six Republicans voting no&comma; and the two Democrats favoring it&period; <br>Committee chair Spencer Gosch who did not vote&comma; but this committee&&num;8217&semi;s report stated that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Select Committee finds under a clear and convincing standard that Attorney General Ravnsborg did not commit misdemeanor in office&comma; as he committed no crime or other wrongful act involving moral turpitude by virtue or authority of his office&period;” <br>The full House&comma; which Republicans control with a 62-8 majority&comma; will convene on April 12 to decide if it will accept the report&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;03&sol;Joseph-Boever-4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-373659" width&equals;"756" height&equals;"985"&sol;><figcaption><strong>The victim Joseph Boever &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; was walking along a highway near the small city of Highmore&period; Ravnsborg told 911 dispatchers that he thought he hit a deer and only found out it was a man after returning to the scene the next morning<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The Republican prosecutor told 911 dispatchers that he thought he hit a deer and only found out it was a man after returning to the scene the next morning&period;<br>On Monday&comma; a special investigative committee of the South Dakota House of Representatives held a closed-door meeting to discuss whether they should proceed with what would have been the first impeachment trial in the state’s history&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>However&comma; along party lines&comma; he committee decided it did not have sufficient grounds to remove him from his post&comma; with six out of the eight members voting against impeachment&period; <br>Boever was walking along a highway near the small city of Highmore&period; Ravnsborg told 911 dispatchers that he thought he hit a deer and only found out it was a man after returning to the scene the next morning&period; Ravnsborg claims he didn&&num;8217&semi;t know he hit Boever until he saw his body on the side of the road next morning when he was driving&nbsp&semi;Sheriff Mike Volek’s car back to him&comma; despite Boever&&num;8217&semi;s glasses being found in the car&period;<br>SD Governor Kristi Noem&comma; a fellow Republican&comma; slammed the decision&comma; stating&colon; &&num;8216&semi;Jason Ravnsborg killed a man&comma; lied to investigators about the events of that night&comma; and attempted to cover it up&comma;” Noem said&period; <br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Joseph Boever’s family deserves justice&period;&&num;8217&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;Jason-Boever-second-right-with-his-family-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-354514" width&equals;"835" height&equals;"705"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Joseph Boever&comma; &lbrack;second right&rsqb;&comma; with his wife and other family members&period; Ranvsborg confirmed that he has settled out of court with Jenny Boever&comma; the victim&&num;8217&semi;s widow&period; However&comma; Gov&period; Noem says &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Joseph Boever’s family deserves justice&&num;8217&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Talk of Ravnsborg&&num;8217&semi;s impeachment began in February after Noem released the video of the AG stumbling through an interview with investigators&period; He was charged with three misdemeanors&comma; pleading no contest to two counts of reckless driving&period; He paid two &dollar;500 fines and &dollar;3&comma;000 in court fees&period; He also had to take part in a district driving education&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<br>He also settled out-of-court with the Boever family&period; Widow Jenny Boever and Ranvsborg confirmed their agreement in February without revealing any terms of amounts&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>&&num;8216&semi;They have reached a settlement with the insurance company and Mr&period; Ravnsborg&comma;&&num;8217&semi; said Mike Deaver&comma; Ravnsborg&&num;8217&semi;s spokesman&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;03&sol;Jason-Ravnsborgs-car-4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-373654" width&equals;"824" height&equals;"685"&sol;><figcaption><strong> On Monday&comma; a special investigative committee of the South Dakota House of Representatives held a closed-door meeting and&nbsp&semi;returned saying it did &&num;8216&semi;not have sufficient grounds to remove &lbrack;Jason Ravnsborg&rsqb; from post&&num;8217&semi;&comma; with six out of the eight members voting against impeachment&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Boevers&&num;8217&semi; relatives Nick and Victor Nemec surveyed the area after the crash&period; Nick said on Tuesday he was &&num;8216&semi;disappointed&&num;8217&semi; and called the ruling a &&num;8216&semi;party-line vote&&num;8217&semi;&nbsp&semi;<br>&&num;8216&semi;It happened fairly quickly&period; So there won&&num;8217&semi;t be any kind of civil suits or anything else&comma; as it was an accident&period;<br>Ravnsborg was driving home to Pierre&comma; 49 miles west of Highmore&comma; from a political fundraiser when he hit Boever on US 14&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>A toxicology test taken 15 hours after the accident found no alcohol in his system and no one at the event saw him drinking&comma; NPR reported&period; Prosecutors have said Ranvsborg was cooperative in the investigation&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>They also said Ravnsborg was on his phone roughly a minute before the crash&comma; but phone records showed it was locked at the moment of impact&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>Ravnsborg told investigators that the last thing he remembered before impact was turning off the radio and looking at his speedometer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;03&sol;Jason-Ravnsborgs-car-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-373651" width&equals;"843" height&equals;"615"&sol;><figcaption><strong><strong>The red car AG<&sol;strong><&sol;strong> <strong>Jason Ravnsborg was driving &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; showed significant damage where Boever&&num;8217&semi;s body was hit&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The attorney general told 911 dispatchers that he only realized Boever was a man and not a deer when he found his body at the site of the crash the next morning after he went to return Sheriff Mike Volek’s car&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>The video shows detectives suggesting that Boever&&num;8217&semi;s body hit Ravnsborg&&num;8217&semi;s windshield so hard that part of Boever&&num;8217&semi;s eyeglasses ended up in the backseat&period;<br>&&num;8216&semi;They&&num;8217&semi;re Joe&&num;8217&semi;s glasses&comma;&&num;8217&semi; an investigator said&comma; according to Sioux City station KMEG&period;<br>Ravnsborg replied&colon; &&num;8216&semi;I wondered&comma; worried&comma; wondered about that&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br>&&num;8216&semi;So that means his face came through your windshield&comma;&&num;8217&semi; the investigator said&period;<br>He apologized to the victim&&num;8217&semi;s family in August&comma; releasing a statement saying he was &&num;8216&semi;very sorry Joe Boever lost his life in this accident&period; I am sorry to the entire family for the loss of their loved one&&num;8217&semi; and that he wished they had met &&num;8216&semi;under different circumstances&period;&&num;8217&semi;&nbsp&semi;<br>He then talked about his accomplishments while in office&period; <br>The Boever is up for reelection as South Dakota state attorney general in November&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-video wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-videopress"><div class&equals;"wp-block-embed&lowbar;&lowbar;wrapper">&NewLine;<iframe title&equals;"VideoPress Video Player" aria-label&equals;'VideoPress Video Player' width&equals;'620' height&equals;'372' src&equals;'https&colon;&sol;&sol;videopress&period;com&sol;embed&sol;Oww0IdFv&quest;cover&equals;1&amp&semi;preloadContent&equals;metadata&amp&semi;useAverageColor&equals;1&amp&semi;hd&equals;0' frameborder&equals;'0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent&equals;"true" allow&equals;'clipboard-write'><&sol;iframe><script src&equals;'https&colon;&sol;&sol;v0&period;wordpress&period;com&sol;js&sol;next&sol;videopress-iframe&period;js&quest;m&equals;1674852142'><&sol;script>&NewLine;<&sol;div><figcaption><strong>This vid<strong>eo footage of the <strong>Jason Ravnsborg<&sol;strong><&sol;strong><&sol;strong> <strong><strong>talking to investigators&nbsp&semi;was released as South Dakota House was contemplating impeaching the AG after the fatal crash<&sol;strong><&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"> &&num;8216&semi;I do not know all the Lord has in store for me&comma; but I trust in Him&period; As I continue my service as your attorney general&comma; I’ll keep fighting for you&comma; just as I have since the day I took office&period; May God bless each of you&comma; and may God continue to bless South Dakota&comma;&&num;8217&semi; he said at the time&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>The family is now supporting the governor&&num;8217&semi;s calls from Ravnsborg to resign&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<br>&&num;8216&semi;I’m disappointed&comma;&&num;8217&semi; Nick Nemec&comma; the victim&&num;8217&semi;s cousin who was with Jenny at the time of the crash&comma; told the Daily Beast on Tuesday&period; <br>&&num;8216&semi;I was hoping some of the Republicans on the committee would vote for impeachment&period; But it was a straight party-line vote&comma;&&num;8217&semi;&nbsp&semi;she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;01&sol;Kristi-Noem-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-398356" width&equals;"834" height&equals;"543"&sol;><figcaption><strong>SD Governor Kristi Noem&comma; &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; has called for Rovnsborg&&num;8217&semi;s resignation and she was also the one who released video footage of the AG talking to investigators&nbsp&semi;South Dakota House moves to impeach AG after fatal crash<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;03&sol;SD-House-of-Representatives-session-2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-403612" width&equals;"838" height&equals;"470"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Voting 6-2 along party lines&comma; the eight person House special investigative committee voted against impeachment of the state AG&period; The state&&num;8217&semi;s House of Representatives &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; controlled 6-8 by Republicans&comma; is set to confirm the committee&&num;8217&semi;s ruling on April 12 <&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Nemec also said he expected the House to move forward with the committee&&num;8217&semi;s recommendation&period; <br>&&num;8216&semi;I’m not hopeful at all&comma;&&num;8217&semi; he said&period;&nbsp&semi;<br>The AG&&num;8217&semi;s attorney Tim Rensch called his client an &&num;8216&semi;honorable man&&num;8217&semi; in September and said the case was &&num;8216&semi;not a homicide case&comma; and it&&num;8217&semi;s not a manslaughter case&period;&&num;8217&semi;&nbsp&semi;<br>&&num;8216&semi;Accidents happen&comma; people die&period; It should not happen&period; No one wants anybody to die&comma;&&num;8217&semi; he said&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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