Last year at this time, the political conversation was dominated by Donald Trump, fascism, the pandemic and white supremacy. While the story of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg got national headlines, it was also basically forgotten on a national level as the election drew closer. In September 2020, Ravnsborg killed a man. Ravnsborg was driving late at night and he hit a pedestrian named Joseph Boever on a dark, rural road. Not only that, Ravnsborg did not stop. He left Boever dying in a ditch for twelve hours. And then Ravnsborg used his political clout to influence the case against him, and oh by the way, Ravnsborg is MAGA and he was one of the lawyers trying to “stop the steal” post-election.
Ravnsborg ended up avoiding murder charges and manslaughter charges. His trial was set for this week but he ended up taking a very generous plea deal which had him pleading no-contest to two misdemeanor charges and paying a minor fine. Seriously.
A judge on Thursday ordered no jail time for South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg in a crash that killed a pedestrian last year, instead fining him $500 on each of two misdemeanor counts. Circuit Judge John Brown also ordered Ravnsborg to pay assorted court costs after the Republican entered no-contest pleas in the crash that killed Joseph Boever, 55, last September.
The judge also ordered Ravnsborg to “do a significant public service event” each year over the next five years near the date of Boever’s death, but he put that on hold after Ravnsborg’s attorney objected that it was not allowed by statute. Brown was to consider that argument and rule later.
Boever’s family members complained bitterly before Ravnsborg was sentenced that the law didn’t provide stiff enough punishment for the attorney general, whom they accused of arrogance ever since the crash that killed Boever. Ravnsborg didn’t attend the hearing, though he wasn’t required to do so.
“Why, after having to wait nearly a year, do we not have the chance to face him?” Boever’s sister, Jane Boever, told the court. She said her brother was “left behind carelessly” the night he died. And she accused Ravnsborg of running down her brother and then using his position and resources to string the case along. She said he has shown no remorse, and only “arrogance toward the law.” Jane Boever also said Judge John Brown’s options for punishing him on the misdemeanor charges were insufficient: “We do not feel a couple of fines is adequate punishment for killing a man. Our brother lay in the ditch for 12 hours. This is inexcusable.”
Joseph Boever’s widow, Jennifer Boever, said Ravnsborg’s “actions are incomprehensible and … cannot be forgiven.”
Ravnsborg’s attorney pushed back hard on the family’s criticism, calling the attorney general an “honorable man.” Rensch said Ravsnborg had been consistent from the beginning that he simply did not see Boever. And he noted that the case was “not a homicide case, and it’s not a manslaughter case,” as prosecutors had said in bringing the misdemeanor charges. “Accidents happen, people die. It should not happen. No one wants anybody to die,” he said.
It’s true that accidents happen, but the situation here is not like “welp, someone slipped and fell.” The state AG ran someone down and the man is dead. The AG used his position and the state’s old-boys-club legal community to avoid any kind of substantive penalty. It’s disgusting to me that Ravnsborg was able to get this kind of sweetheart deal and pay a minor fine for KILLING someone.
If you want to read more about the case and how it “upended South Dakota politics,” Vanity Fair has an excellent article with a lot of backstory here.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
