PIERRE, SD (AP) – South Dakota Republican Attorney General was charged Thursday with three counts of hitting and killing a man with his car last summer, avoiding charges of more serious crimes in a case that raised issues about how the first state police officer first reported the crash.
Jason Ravnsborg could receive up to 30 days in jail and up to a $ 500 fine for each charge – driving carelessly, getting out of his lane and driving a motor vehicle while on the phone.
Ravensborg was grateful that the legal system had assumed his innocence – for now – while relatives of the man killed in the collision, Joseph Boever, 55, said they were disappointed, but that it did not surprise them that the Attorney General only faced charges of misdemeanors. .
Hyde County Deputy State Attorney Emily Sovell’s attorney said the evidence simply did not support charges of vehicular homicide or homicide, which could have meant years in prison. He noted that Ravnsborg was not intoxicated and that a charge of homicide would have forced the state to prove that it “consciously and unjustifiably” ignored a substantial risk.
“At best, his conduct was negligent, which was insufficient to file criminal charges in South Dakota,” said prosecutor Michael Moore, who helped handle the case.
Ravnsborg, who was elected for his first term in 2018, initially told authorities he thought he had hit a deer or other large animal when he was heading for Pierre since the Republican fundraiser in late September 12th. He said he had searched the lighted area. with a cell phone flashlight and didn’t realize she had killed a man the next day when she returned to the scene of the crash in U.S. 14 near Highmore.
Crash investigators said in November that Ravnsborg was distracted when he veered to the shoulder of the road where Boever was walking. But prosecutors took more months to make a charge decision in the crash, initiating an investigation that considered the cell phone’s GPS data, Ravnsborg route video footage and DNA tests.
Ravnsborg said he had not drunk before the crash and handed over his electronic devices to investigators. A toxicology report of a blood sample taken about 15 hours after the accident showed no alcohol to the Ravnsborg system. Investigators said Thursday they found no evidence that he drank alcohol in the hours leading up to the crash.
Boever’s family had questioned Ravnsborg’s story and expressed frustration as they spent five months waiting for a charge decision.
Boever’s cousin Nick Nemec said Thursday he was “disappointed, but not surprised” by the charges. He called South Dakota’s murder law “weak” and expected his family to take civil action against Ravnsborg.
“I was afraid the load was something of the order to cross the white line,” Nemec said. “And that was exactly the charge.”
Ravnsborg He said in a statement: “I appreciate, more than ever, that the presumption of innocence of our legal system continues to work.”
He added that he could not imagine the “pain and loss” of Boever’s family.
Moore, the state’s attorney, said the misdemeanor charges were the “right decision,” but he didn’t feel good about it.
“Obviously, when a person dies, we want to know what happened. But it limits us to the investigation and the facts, “he said.” And we can’t force someone to tell us. I mean, there’s nowhere else to go. “
Despite the accusation accusing Ravnsborg of being on the mobile phone, he was not actually on his device at the time of the accident, authorities said. They said phone records showed he had used his phone about a minute earlier.
Prosecutors determined, based on cell phone records, that Ravnsborg was walking through Boever’s body as he walked through the scene of the crash with his cell phone flashlight. But Sovell noted that it was a “very dark night” with no lighting on the road and that there was no evidence that Ravnsborg or the sheriff who responded to the crash could see Boever’s body.
A crash reconstruction expert from Wyoming and the North Dakota Office of Criminal Investigation assisted the South Dakota Highway Patrol in the investigation. These accidents would normally be investigated by the South Dakota Office of Criminal Investigation, which reports to the attorney general’s office. The other agencies undertook the investigation to avoid a conflict of interest.
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This story has been corrected to erase a misleading mention that Ravnsborg could face up to a year in prison; The prosecutor said each of the three offenses is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine.