But Jason, remember: you’re still having a better day than Joe Boever, the man you killed over five months ago.
Rookie Representative and Republican favorite Will Mortenson (R-24/Pierre) filed House Resolution 7001, impeaching Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for crimes and misdemeanors in office. Co-sponsoring the impeachment resolution are House Majority Leader Kent Peterson (R-19/Salem) and Minority Leader Jamie Smith (D-15/Sioux Falls).
HR 7001 lays two articles of impeachment against Ravnsborg, one for killing Joe Boever, another for unspecified crimes in office associated with the investigation of the killing and “actions becoming the Attorney General”:
Article I: Acts Causing the Death of Joseph Boever
Article XVI, § 3 of the South Dakota Constitution provides that the House of Representatives may impeach “state and judicial officers,” for “drunkenness, crimes, corrupt conduct, or malfeasance or misdemeanors in office.” Jason Ravnsborg committed crimes or misdemeanors in office causing the death of Joseph Boever, specifically:
(1) On the evening of September 12, 2020, Jason Ravnsborg failed to operate his vehicle within its proper lane, crossed outside such lane, and struck pedestrian and Highmore, South Dakota resident Joseph Boever. Mr. Boever died from injuries sustained from the collision; and
(2) Jason Ravnsborg has been charged by the Hyde County State’s Attorney with three separate crimes in connection with his driving on the night in question.
The Attorney General having a special obligation to the People and the Laws of the State of South Dakota, Jason Ravnsborg must be removed from such office for his crimes or misdemeanors in office causing the death of Joseph Boever.
Article II: Other Acts Following the Death of Joseph Boever
Article XVI, § 3 of the South Dakota Constitution provides that the House of Representatives may impeach “state and judicial officers,” for “drunkenness, crimes, corrupt conduct, or malfeasance or misdemeanors in office.” Jason Ravnsborg committed crimes or misdemeanors in office associated with the investigation following the death of Joseph Boever.
Following the collision, including during his reporting of the collision and the resulting investigation, Jason Ravnsborg undertook actions unbecoming the Attorney General. Jason Ravnsborg’s statements and actions failed to meet the standard of the Office of the Attorney General.
The Attorney General having a special obligation to the People and the Laws of the State of South Dakota, Jason Ravnsborg must be removed from such office for his crimes or misdemeanors in office following the death of Joseph Boever [House Resolution 7001: Articles of Impeachment against Jason Ravnsborg, filed 2021.02.23].
“Actions unbecoming”… hmm… invoking his high title at the beginning of his 911 call? Lying to the dispatcher about what he hit and where he hit it (er, him)? The language of HR 7001 suggests Ravnsborg engaged in misdeeds following the accident we haven’t heard about yet.
We may hear about more misdeeds soon. The articles of impeachment hit the hopper shortly after Governor Kristi Noem publicly called for Ravnsborg to resign and threatened a document dump:
Now that the investigation has closed and charges have been filed, I believe the Attorney General should resign. I have reviewed the material we are releasing, starting today, and I encourage others to review it as well [Gov. Kristi Noem, press release, 2021.02.23].
Translation: There’s more evidence against Ravnsborg, worse than what we know already. She and the Legislative leadership have seen the evidence, and it makes the cost of covering for their party boy too high to bear, even in safely red South Dakota. Noem and the Legislative leaders are giving Ravnsborg one more chance to rethink his stubborn insistence on keeping his job. If he doesn’t, Noem is hanging the threat of releasing evidence that will bury him and make the impeachment vote unanimous.
If Ravnsborg takes his cue, we’ll have a new Attorney General by Friday. If Ravnsborg tries to stay put, Governor Noem will dump the truck on him, greasing with her promised material a speedy impeachment that the House and Senate could complete in the brief breathing space they’ll have next week after Crossover Day. Either way, Jason Ravnsborg will be off our payroll before the Ides of March… and South Dakotans will have witnessed their first state impeachment.
Yeah, tough day, Jason. But you still get to walk home, go to bed, and get up the next day, unlike Joe Boever, the man you killed.
Update 21:57 CST: South Dacola posts the videos the Department of Public Safety has released via YouTube showing the investigators’ interview of Jason Ravnbsorg.
And this is the guy who says he didn’t believe he committed a crime.
I’m ready to bury SD GOP.
@thenation
There is a clear and undeniable correlation between the neoliberal onslaught that started in the 1980s, led by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, and the rise of neofascism and religious fundamentalism after decades of marginalization.
Unfortunately, we still won’t get a real Attorney General.
If noem nothing had an iota of dignity she would have called for a resignation immediately upon hearing the accident occurred outside travel lane and was misrepresented from the start. She appears to have waited to see which way the political damage winds would blow.
Mr. Russell is stirring in his jammies down there in Hot Springs. He sniffs a new easy job.
Leslie, fixed it for you: I’m ready to bury SD GQP. BuckoBear & Mike: spot on.
I’m not without empathy to Ravnsborg and his family. Yet, that empathy pales to that extended to the Boever family and the deceased. But for the grace of near-happen chance most of us could be on either end of this tragedy. Yet, there must be a full and better accounting than the pathetic offering by Hyde County. The Janklow prosecution is the modern standard and must be honored.
Likely many of us are shocked, surprised that the uncharacteristically executive lapdog legislature would dare introduce impeachment articles. Let’s hope they find the stem-cell transfusion to develop the spine to see it through.
Rep Mortenson wisely nailed a 2d impeachment article. Recall when a compliant, ham-fisted court martial acquitted USMC Captain (Easy One) Ashby for killing 20 – after violating numerous flight rules and cut a Dolomite gondola car cable – the USMC finally found the bile to convict Ashby of obstruction of justice and conduct unbecoming an officer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1998)
The Ashby crime resonates with me because a week earlier and a valley north, my wife and I skied and road cable gondolas on those inter-connected magical Dolomite slopes.
Rep Mortenson, Rep Peterson, Rep Smith: Do. Your. Duty.
Somebody tell me: why would Ravnsborg not resign post-haste (TODAY) when faced with votes of no-confidence from the public AND the governor’s office AND articles of impeachment from bipartisan members of the legislature? Thinks he can ride it out? Waiting for the still of the night? What a sad pile of refuse this great state has become under current “leadership” from the dominant party.
NOem will lobby her sugar daddy trump for Rudy’s replacement. Ravnsborg really is Rudy with hair.
Robin, Ravnsborg has immersed himself in a deep fantasy since at least 2014 that he is destined for greatness. That’s s a hard fantasy to give up,because it’s all he has. He is AG solely because of the support he got from years of butt-kissing in the SDGQP (yes, John, I’m going to borrow that!). His only source of support is now turning on him. His world is dissolving, and he is left in void.
I’m not advising sympathy; I’m just saying he’s at the edge, he sees the abyss, and he can’t process it.
Buck, we might get a real AG. Marty was pretty real—a pure crony, yes, but he at least had experience. Maybe Noem will bring him back to deflate 2022 primary tension.
Or maybe to avoid giving Marty any good press, she’ll go with Sara Frankenstein, who could probably do the job pretty well… which spells trouble for those of us fighting for justice, because Frankenstein would be better at fighting us.
But first things first: Ravnsborg must go.
South Dacola posts the videos the Department of Public Safety has released via YouTube showing the investigators’ interview of Jason Ravnbsorg.
Ravnsborg Interview 1: 1 hr 7 min
Ravnsborg Interview 2: 2 hr 10min
well…you gotta hand it to the Republicans…everytime we have a good scandal with the GOP in office, we end up with a dead body or two..G-85, the Platte_Indian Scholarship scandal, and this deal..who knows maybe more bodies will wash up on the shores of Oahe..its only politics but when the Republicans mess up, there are bodies laying around…its a little bit more than dysfunctional
Son of a… go to minute 55 in the second video. At 10:20 p.m. the night of the accident, Jason Ravnsborg’s phone log shows he checked his Yahoo mail. At 10:20:49, he accessed Dakota Free Press. A minute later, he checked Real Clear Politics. A minute later, he checked Just the News and accessed something related to an anti-Biden film called “Riding the Dragon.” At 10:24, he called 911.
After the investigators show Ravnsborg the log, he insists he set his phone down to get rid of distractions and think about cases before the accident happened. He insists he was not looking at his phone “when it happened.” He does not clearly recall looking at the information on his phone, but he insists he clearly remembers setting the phone down, shutting the radio off, looking at his speedometer, “and then wham.”
Second video, 1 hr 3 min, investigator notes that Ravnsborg had been called out before for tweeting while driving. Ravnsborg insists, “I set the phone down. I know I did.”
Video 2, 1:06:40: Ravnsborg says, “Like I said, I glance at headlines, at best.”
Ravnsborg insists he was getting rid of distractions so he could think about two cases… while driving… the moment before he hit and killed a man he did not see on the road on which his eyes were not.
Video 2, 1:08:40: Ravnsborg admits he was looking at articles on his phone on the drive up to Redfield earlier in the day. He had a couple of books on tape, but he didn’t like either of them.
Now the horror unfolds: Video 2, 1:11:00: investigator asks Ravnsborg if he saw the glasses next to where Ravnsborg had looked for and checked in detail his insurance card Ravnsborg had the wherewithal to notice that the first insurance card he grabbed was a year out of date, but, Ravnsborg says no, he didn’t see the glasses until the investigator showed them earlier.
“They’re Joe’s glasses… so that means his face came through the windshield.”
Ravnsborg insists he did not see the man, did not see the glasses of the man he killed in his car.
Video 2 1:13:40: “One of the other things we know, Jason, is we know you weren’t in the middle of the road. You were on the shoulder.”
The investigators says they have three witnesses who said Boever was in the grass.
1:14:32: “part of the evidence that is really convincing is that there is bone scrape on the inside of the rumble bars. That’s where his leg was likely broke. That’s where the pieces were at.”
The other investigator says the man was in his windshield, dragged along… and lays out pretty much the gruesome scenario I deduced from the crime scene evidence that Boever’s cousin Nick Nemec provided us right after the accident.
Video 2, 1:16:30: “We know that his face came through your windshield… We also have the imprint on the hood where his body, or at least part of his body, likely was riding. At some point in time he rolls off, takes out the mirror, and slides into the ditch.”
V2 1:17:10: “Did you see the flashlight he was carrying… We went out and tested it. We picked up the flashlight. The flashlight was still on when Joe and I got to the scene. It had not been touched. We picked it up, and the light was still in. We talked to a witness that had just seen the light, had seen him walking with the light. After the crash, did you see that light in the dark?”
The flashlight was on. Joe Boever was carrying a functional, illuminated flashlight when Jason Ravnsborg hit him on the shoulder of the road and killed him.
Jason tells the investigators he is absolutely certain he did not see the flashlight glowing in the ditch. The investigators say it was hard to miss when they did their reconstructions in the dark. “That flashlight was like a beacon.”
Prediction: Jason resigns by dawn.
V2 1:20:30: investigator says Boever was found two feet from the road. His white skin would have contrasted significantly with the grass. Ravnsborg insists he didn’t see him that night.
Less than two feet. Less than two feet. Bare white skin on dark grass… and somehow neither Ravnsborg nor the sheriff saw the body that night.
V2 1:24:30: Investigators bring up the step/GPS data on his Apple phone. Jason claims to know nothing about that feature.
If I’m understanding what the investigators are saying, the car stopped 60 feet past the large piece of debris and 75 feet past the body of Joe Boever.
V2 1:27:10: investigator says Ravnsborg took 400 and some steps from his car back toward Highmore, then returned to his car. Ravnsborg had to walk by the body and the glowing flashlight on the edge of the grass… twice.
The investigator also attests that Ravnsborg would have had to walk well past the body and flashlight to get close enough to read the Highmore sign.
(Note to investigators: if you’re going to video-record an interview, make sure your head does not hide the face of the suspect.)
Ravnsborg took a photo of his car before leaving that Saturday night. He texted his assistants Natvig and Bormann (1:33:30) from the highway as he drove home to tell them about the accident.
V2 1:34:40: Investigator, after recapping Jason’s big lie about driving in the middle of the road: “Jason, you’re a good guy. You’re not used to being in this pickle.”
Jason: “I am a good guy.”
Right there is the fantasy, Robin, the hoop that’s breaking. Jason has convinced himself (and surrounded himself with people who tell him this) that he is a good guy.
V2 1:35:30: when the investigator tries to get Jason to admit that mistakes were made, passive voice and everything, Jason responds, “I don’t know what I would have done differently.”
V2: 1:37:50: Investigator says that none of the people he talked to ever went back the next day after an accident where they thought they’d hit the deer to see if they could find the deer.
V2: 1:39:30: Responding to a comment from the investigator about how they are looking closely at all the evidence, Jason say, “Oh, I get it, I get strict scrutiny… because of who I am.”
Investigator (from ND, I believe) “Well I think this would happen no matter what, because I think your guys would be sitting in these chairs if it was somebody else, and I think you know that.”
Jason: “I did not see him the night before. I did not see him until the next day.”
V2: 1:41:36: Investigator notes that as Jason walked back toward the Highmore sign, he saw that chunk of debris from his car on the road. Jason says he remembers seeing that chunk.
Then, as Jason recounts his actions the next day, he speaks with clarity and confidence about his story.
V2: 1:44:30: Investigator asks if Jason felt bumps as he braked. Jason says he pumped the brakes but didn’t know what the shock was. investigator notes that ABS doesn’t need pumping. Jason says he’d always heard you’re not supposed to slam on the brakes. He said he heard the rumble bars after hitting the brakes. [Investigators both pause to write for several seconds.]
V2: 1:47:30 Investigator said that Ravnsborg said, “I didn’t know what I hit until impact.”
Ravnsborg says he’s a military man and wouldn’t have left a man to die, if he’d have thought it was a man.
V2: 1:49:45: The investigator said he was the “test dummy”: he walked along the side of road in a blue shirt and blue jeans, like Boever wore. He carried Boever’s flashlight, which still worked, lit up, to see what investigators driving by would see. “They video’d it. It’s pretty apparent. It’s pretty apparent that you were not looking at the road when that happened.”
V2 1:55:40: Attorney General Jason Ravnbsorg: “I’m obviously not as observant as I should be.”
Multiple times in the second interview, Ravnsborg says it only seemed logical that it would have been a deer, because who would expect to see a man at the edge of the road in the dark?
Wow, the interview is shocking, thanks for the highlights Cory. He’s obviously dishonest. Just straight lying. I agree, he resigns tomorrow.
V2 2:02:00: Ravnsborg says he asked some of his investigators about how certain phone apps work and how such information might be used against him.
Someone better hold Nick and Victor back:
V2 2:08:26: Investigator says bringing in investigators from another state usually isn’t advertised as widely as it was in this case, “but I think they wanted to make sure that it wasn’t, as one of the cousins said, another big cover up.”
Jason: “Right. Augh, well, he’s—yes, I won’t say anything.”
V2 2:09:00: Jason switches on his phone and checks something before stepping out of the interview.
It is illegal to read the Dakota War College while driving. And Mr. Ravnsborg was.
Let that be all of your all’s first dose of vaccine against Noem Derangement Syndrome.
I applaud the movies released about Mr. Ravnsborg. His appointment by the caucuses has now finally come home to haunt them, and thanks be to Governor Noem.
Let it be shown that grudznick has cautioned all you libbies screaming, as the NoDakians say “bogi bogi”, the root has come to roost.
Now, with Mr. Smith of the Democrats being on the team, we will find out what the 73 redacted seconds contain. grudznick wants to know.
grudznick said, not to define Mr. Ravnsborg but to beat down the speculation of various libbies:
Let this be yet another lesson to you to listen to grudznick, for he knows what he writes.
grrrudstroll, libbies really? I suspect he was drunk based on the same criteria that you claim he was not. Opinions are like arseholes.
Mr. Heidelberger: If it is possible to find a bright side to this abysmal chain of events it is the power of the free press. I am proud to participate in your venture.
I learned tonight that Jason Ravnsborg reads this blog, so this message is for him. Jason, you can rest assured I will dog you for years to come. I will do all I can do to get you impeached, convict and removed from office, I will do everything in my power to insure you are never again elected to office anywhere in the United States. You can also rest assured this Nemec brother will do everything I can to make sure you get a bad paper discharge from the Army Reserve. Your repeatedly invoking your status as a Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel makes the blood of this old Marine boil.
Someday I’ll introduce myself to you and let you look me in the eyes, if you have the guts.
Here, here, Mr. Livingston!
A tragedy all the way around. As concerns Ravnsborg himself, however, we are witnessing denial and dissociation in what was a horrific and traumatic event. This is much more complex at the subjective level than to be characterized as simple “lying.”
“Denial is the shock absorber for the soul. It protects us until we are equipped to cope with reality.” –C.S. Lewis
Grudz, I missed the part where the investigators said DWC was on Ravnbsorg’s phone before accident. Ravnsborg mentioned DWC unprompted when they asked him about Dakota Free Press, but the investigators did not mention DWC as one of the sites Ravnsborg’s phone accessed immediately before the crash.
Grudz, you also tried to dismiss the evidence about the flashlight, parsing what kind of light it may have been. The investigators referred repeatedly to a flashlight, said it was on, and used that flashlight in their own tests to establish that it would have been absolutely, unmissably visible to any driver watching the road… and to anyone walking alongside the road as Jason was after the accident.
We don’t need there to have been alcohol involved, and I never focused on the possibility that alcohol was involved. The facts are bad enough. Ravnsborg’s irresponsibility and lies and attempt to evade punishment by invoking his authority and his military rank were bad enough.
That is correct, Mr. H. They have just now confirmed it was a standard flashlight in Mr. Boever’s hand as he walked when previously it was stated it was just a light of some sort.
It is good that Mr. PPs blog was not part of this, then, but I am pretty sure I heard one of those fellows say “are you sure it wasn’t Dakota War College, South Dakota’s #1 Political Website you were perusing as you drove?”
No matter. It was many of your readers who continue to suggest Mr. Ravnsborg was drinking when I insisted he was likely not.
Jezz Grudz, a couple of hours in a bar in Redfield and no beer? Whats South Dakota coming to?
Let’s stay focused: the second video is damning. Ravnsborg is lying. He has no place in public office. He should resign now. If he doesn’t, the Legislature should put in extra hours and remove him from office before the leave town for the week on Thursday.
Mr. Ravnsborg should resign today or be run out of town on a rail.
He agreed to take the polygraph, did he? Are the results available? If the light was like a “beacon” there is a question why the sheriff, tow truck operator, and cars passing by the accident scene before morning did not locate the body. When exactly did Ravnsborg arrive the following morning? Is the exact time of the accident known, and the exact time of when he was using the phone? What did the earlier jargon from Sovell mean that his phone was locked prior to the accident? She claimed he was not on the phone, but was a minute earlier. A very specific timeline down to the minute/second timeline, if one can be drawn, will help understand the most likely narrative.
I have to give credit where credit is due. Noem did the right thing by opening up the investigation to the public and probably the first time it has ever been done in SD history of GOP rule.
I sincerely hope Nick Nemec gets the grief counseling he needs.
When Botham Jean was murdered in his own apartment in TX by a police officer who entered his apartment thinking it was her own, at the sentencing, his brother hugged her and openly forgave her. It was a very emotional moment and I remember thinking how could he just hug the murderer of her brother like that?
Lets let Jor Boever RIP now. I don’t think he would have wanted any of his relatives to be so full of anger. Joe was not that kind of person.
Jason Ravnsborg’s secrets are exposed. I never understood the appeal of this mumbling man and almost felt sorry for him watching these videos. This will be a heavy burden he carries throughout his life.
I believe Ravnsborg claimed they only had the light from his phone to use that night.
Happy Camper, I still don’t under the the cell phone crap Sowell and Moore were talking about at the press conference. If anyone can explain what they think they meant here that would be helpful.
The cell phone being locked played an important part of Sovells investigation. Why did she focus so much on thar? Peculiar.
Don’t understand the cell phone crap I meant.
After taking a few commenters to task for simultaneously claiming that Ravnsborg was not distracted but still somehow conflated a human with a deer, even after that human’s head came through his windshield, Powers once again banned me from posting.
The absolute complete lack of honesty and ideological consistency from so many on the right now is so frustrating. At least Mortenson still seems to care about some semblance of the truth.
Dicta, I’m not banned there, but my on-topic, civil comments are frequently deleted for no good reason. Pat Powers is a wretched human being.
Distracted while driving. Even for the 60 seconds before the crash, he was thinking about 2 cases instead of thinkIng of the road. Pure distracted driving. As AG, he should have done his thinking in the passenger seat, and had an aide or family member driving.
He can’t use Officer of reserves as an excuse. Conduct unbecoming an officer.
Noem developed 1/64th of a spine asking him to resign. GOPQ, no spine there. 20 days to impeach? Immediate censure, on the spot. Then full open huddle of the 2 parties and Gov on how to turbo charge impeachment and trial.
Why is distracted driving only a 30 day misdeameanor?
Lastly, the victim (and the hero) of this sad story, Joe Boever. He was exercising the “liberty” that Ravensborgg (raven not round) talks about. US citizen with a fully operational flashlight walking on the shoulder of the road, before or after checking his truck.
The Legislature should pass a new law widening the width of all shoulders on all state and US highways an additional 1 to 3 feet. Each shoulder on US and state highways should be designated as a Walkers Shoulder. Also, any car striking anyone holding an operational flashlight should be charged with automatic felony, regardless of behavior of driver. Strike a pedestrian with a flashlight, automatic felony. Period.
Joe Boever was exercising liberty and freedom that night.
So operating a car while using a phone or electronic device is only a 30 day misdeameanor? So if someone texts and drives, 30 days in jail. Some texts and drives and kills a pedestrian, 30 days?
Makes no sense. The law has some teeth, but no brains.
SD laws should enshrine the right of a pedestrian to walk on the shoulder. Absolutely.
There should be a 4th charge against Borg. He was driving 67 miles an hour according to USA Today. Is that part of Hwy 14 a 65 mph zone?
Class 2 misdeameanor, $87.50 fine and court cost. He can plead guilty or innocent on the speeding charge.
This should not be overlooked. Mr. Boever’s life and liberty were taken away by Ravensborgs actions, which should result in 4 charges.
Video 2, 1:04:24
The investigator pretty much sums the situation up to JR yet he still just will not accept any responsibility whatsoever.
The thing is with these 3 class 2 misdemeanors he won’t see a single day in jail and maybe $500 dollars in fines? And he knows this… The only thing remaining is if he can avoid impeachment, which he may have a fair shot at, would be to hang in there and take as many comrades of the Grand Ol’ Party that he can with him. Start fighting Jason bring ’em down.
South Dakota Republicans are an interesting group. I heard zero support for the resignation or impeachment of Donald Trump, but now the Governor calls for Ravnsborg’s resignation, and the Republicans in the legislature appear to be moving forward with both an impeachment and removal from office.
I guess SD Republicans have decided that Ravnsborg’s 3 misdemeanor traffic charges, without a single conviction yet, his lies about the details of the accident in which an innocent person died, and his exoneration from criminal manslaughter charges for killing someone in a traffic accident are terrible enough to deserve public condemnation and removal from public office, all for conduct unbecoming of an elected official. Given Ravnsborg’s publicly documented behavior, this seems like an entirely appropriate decision by Republicans
Meanwhile, however, Trump’s lies to the public and malfeasence in office is responsible for:
Trump is also being investigated for, or has been adjudicated for:
I could go on for pages listing an amazing number of additional civil and criminal issues surrounding Trump’s immoral and criminal behavior before, during, and after his term in the most important elected office in the United States, yet instead of publicly declaring such conduct to be unbecoming of an elected official, our Trumpist SD Republicans praise and support Trump.
SD Republican representatives in Congress twice voted against impeachment. SD Senators twice voted against conviction after the House impeached Trump; The SD Governor has wasted SD tax dollars (the amount of which Republicans refuse to disclose) traveling around the country and stumping to try to keep Trump in office and to celebrate his so-called leadership.
The Trumpist Republicans in this State never fail to amaze. How they can, in good faith, deem Trump’s documented felonious, fraudulent and immoral behavior and lies less troubling than Ravnsborg’s 3 misdemeanor traffic offense charges, lies and potential civil responsibility for a death is beyond belief.
According to Jason Ravnsborg this entire thing is Joe Boevers fault. Even inquiring on his toxicology report.
I felt embarrassed watching these videos.
Indeed, Cody, that question Jason asked the investigators at the end about Boever’s toxicology report seemed totally self-serving and inappropriate.
I didn’t see at the end of the 2nd video where Ravnsborg
was implying it was Boever’s fault. Obviously some narcissism going on here which is extremely common with politicians.
It is not against the law to walk with a flashlight on a wide shoulder of a highway at night in SD.
He ended up refusing the polygraph then?
He was reading political videos when he struck Boever pretty obvious.
Has Noem and/r any other members of SD’s elected leadership had access to these interview videos since last fall?
Does anyone know comment guy Mike Lee Zitterich on the post below? Because wow, what a piece of work.
https://www.southdacola.com/blog/2021/02/south-dakota-attorney-general-ravnsborg-should-resign/
So Cory, Ravnsborg’s reason for not resigning is his own personal wobbly, precarious but overblown sense of self, have I got that right? Sounds like someone else we all knew whose niece wrote about how he got that way.
Jenny, He claimed he was willing to take a polygraph in ND. The challenge is, since polygraphs are pseudoscience, they’re inadmissible in court; they don’t actually help.
Cory wrote: V2: “1:37:50: Investigator says that none of the people he talked to ever went back the next day after an accident where they thought they’d hit the deer to see if they could find the deer.”
Let me be the first to say I’ve returned to the scenes of where I hit deer, but it was convenient to do so because they were on routes I frequently travel. The buck that side-swiped me good and caused $4k worth of damage ran off, so I wanted to see if he laid down and died somewhere.
But, as the investigators noted, both times I’ve had run-ins with deer, I’ve known exactly what I hit.
Robin, yes. Ravnsborg is so tied to his precarious inflated self-perception that he cannot let it go.
Incredibly, there are still some people in the DWC comment section committed to making excuses for Ravnsborg, portraying the impeachment as a rush to judgment with insufficient evidence, and trying to somehow blame Democrats for promoting impeachment to subvert democracy.
We should be careful to assume we know the mental state of people we don’t know personally. Cory assumed the delay in sentencing was a conspiracy between Ravnsborg and Sovell so he could get promoted to Full Bird and Sovell get a cut. In retrospect, that is ludicrous, is it not? Can you learn from that wild assumption, be aware of your inclination (to go off the deep end), and in the future be more cautious in your judgements?
Anyone notice him catching himself (1:30:08) admitting both he and the Sheriff (we) “looked at him” (Boever) on the night of the accident. He then quickly corrects himself saying the next morning was the first time he saw him
Hap, I did not assume; I simply proposed one logical possibility to explain a seemingly illogical delay. I see no sign that the suggestion that the delay was meant to help Ravnsborg was ludicrous. And I’m still wondering: has he been promoted? Do the misdemeanor charges instead of felony charges prevent him from losing rank or benefits?
I only read the first two paragraphs of the snark infested post, and I have to disagree with Mr. Heidelberger. Allow me to explain my basis. You contend that Jason Ravnsborg had a better day than Mr. Joseph Boever. That would depend on your belief in salvation. Quite possibly Joseph Boever is in heaven, and the descriptions I have heard regarding what heaven is like would lead me to believe that Joseph Boever has a better day every day than any of us mortals here on earth.
That being said, let me say that I believe that Mr. Ravnsborg needs to be held accountable for the loss of life his negligence caused. Around 10 years ago a young man in Sioux Falls was speeding down Minnesota Avenue texting on his cell phone. This young man rear ended a vehicle at a stop light and a man on a motorcycle stopped at that light later died as a result of the young man’s negligent behavior. The young man was charged with first degree manslaughter and one year later pled guilty to a lesser charge to avoid conviction and a possible sentence of life in prison. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison and $10,000 restitution. The young man was not under the influence of alcohol or any drug that would impair his ability to drive. He was speeding. He had a prior DUI and careless driving charges on his record.
If the young man described above deserved 9 years and restitution and a felony conviction on his record, then Ravnsborg deserves nothing less.
But please don’t attempt to be cute when you write about Joseph Boever’s day. You know absolutely nothing about the rapture he may very well be experiencing.
Randy,
Regarding the accident 10 years ago, the victims name was Phil, and yes it was a terrible tragedy and I appreciate the comparison. I agree with what you said. In fact, perhaps Phil and Joe are up there looking down on everything with great disappointment.
Let us not forget Philip Sorensen & Joe Boever. May God rest their souls.
Here’s the thing Mr. Anderson. I read your entire comment. I don’t share your religious beliefs, but you are certainly entitled to them. If I had just stopped because of my disagreement with your first few sentences, I might have missed your otherwise very excellent information. I think you are right that “Ravnsborg deserves nothing less” than the other man who killed someone in similar circumstances.
When you write a lede, you try to interest people in reading the story. Sometimes you write it straight. Sometimes you write it, as you say, “cute.” Both are fine. In a story like this, it came to light that Ravnsborg was looking at Dakota Free Press as he took the life of Joe Boever. Cory broke the third wall by directing the lede right at Ravnesborg. Hopefully he wasn’t driving. That’s gutty writing, even if some don’t appreciate it.