PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has been barred from holding future office following his conviction on impeachment charges in a 2020 crash that killed a pedestrian.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted Tuesday to bar Ravnsborg from future office after earlier convicting him on charges stemming from the crash that killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever. Those convictions had already triggered his automatic removal from office.
Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher the night of the crash that he might have struck a deer or other large animal, and has said he didn’t know he struck a man — 55-year-old Joseph Boever — until he returned to the scene the next morning. Criminal investigators said they didn’t believe some of Ravnsborg’s statements.
Ravnsborg, a Republican, was impeached in the House on charges of committing a crime that caused someone’s death and with malfeasance, for allegedly misleading law enforcement and abusing the powers of his office.
Convictions required a two-thirds majority. Ravnsborg, who was in his first term, is the first official to be impeached and convicted in South Dakota history. Gov. Kristi Noem, who pushed for Ravnsborg’s impeachment, will appoint his replacement.
