Yesterday, we posted Justice for Joe Boever: news about Ravnsborg impeachment; Jackley's campaign for office, an update in the story of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who killed Joseph Boever last September while distracted by his device while driving home from a political fundraiser.
Associated Press staffer Stephen Groves reports Friday in South Dakota's top lawmakers release an attorney general impeachment petition for special session, published at the Argus Leader and other state newspapers:
South Dakota legislative leaders on Friday distributed a petition to lawmakers asking them to support a special session to consider impeaching Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for a car crash last year that killed a pedestrian.
House Speaker Spencer Gosch released the text of the petition. Two-thirds of both the Republican-controlled House and Senate must sign on to convene the special session. Lawmakers would meet in November, the day after they are scheduled to hold a special session to consider new legislative districts.
The petition says the special session would be called for “investigating and evaluating whether the conduct of Jason Ravnsborg ... surrounding the death of Joe Boever, involved impeachable offenses.”
Gosch has said that if the special session is approved, he will appoint a committee to investigate the conduct of the attorney general, a Republican whose term runs through 2022. The South Dakota Legislature has never tried to impeach an official as powerful as an attorney general. It would require a simple majority of the House to approve articles of impeachment, while two-thirds of senators must vote to convict and remove him from office.
The attorney general pleaded no contest to a pair of misdemeanors last month, and prosecutors dropped a third misdemeanor. Ravnsborg avoided jail time and was sentenced to fines totaling over $4,500 for making an illegal lane change and using a cellphone while driving. Investigators said his car veered onto the shoulder of the rural highway where Boever was walking late on Sept. 12 last year and that Ravnsborg had been on his cellphone about a minute before the crash.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has repeatedly called for Ravnsborg's resignation, but he has insisted he will not resign and can perform the duties of his office.
We grow frustrated by some readers who claim that Noem is protecting Ravnsborg. The anger at the lack of consequences for the death of Joseph Boever is a nonpartisan thing here in South Dakota.
Related posts:
- Justice for Joe Boever: news about Ravnsborg impeachment; Jackley's campaign for office
- Bipartisan group of South Dakota House leaders call for Ravnsborg impeachment inquiry
- A Friday of headlines in the life of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg
- Top South Dakota lawman: Joe Boever's killer Ravnsborg gets 7th speeding ticket since 2014
- Is anyone pleased with SD AG Jason Ravnsborg plea deal other than Team Ravnsborg?
- Remember Joe Boever: AP reports South Dakota AG Ravnsborg objects to cameras at his trial
- Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Army Reserve blocks Ravnsborg promotion due to Boever death
- Boever death: Ravnsborg didn't see face coming through glass, flashlight like beacon in grass
- Ravnsborg's lawyer enters not guilty plea; South Dakota Attorney General not present in court
- Joe Boever was killed, but Ravnsborg's attorney claims client suffering is the worst thing ever
- Justice for Joe Boever: Governor Noem calls for AG Ravnsborg's resignation; articles of impeachment filed in South Dakota House
- Attorney General Ravnsborg charged with 3 misdemeanors in crash that killed Joe Boever
- Twitter memorials: 5 months ago, South Dakota Attorney General Ravnsborg killed Joe Boever
- Daily Beast: Ravnsborg killed a man. Family members fear Joe Boever has been forgotten
- Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Noem supports using grand jury to speed up Ravnsborg killing probe
- States attorneys looking into killing of Joseph Boever by AG Ravnsborg not talking to Noem
- Rapid City Journal: After 4 months, still no decision on whether AG Ravnsborg will be charged for killing Joseph Boever
- AP: Prosecutors waiting on debris testing in SD Attorney General killing of Joseph Boever
- Governor Kristi Noem takes off her positive pants, given pace of Ravnsborg investigation
- Well, that's illuminating: South Dakota Highway Patrol’s accident report on Boever killing
- South Dakota News Watch: Crash experts question Ravnsborg’s car-deer explanation
- SD News Watch: State's criminal & civil traffic laws favor drivers over pedestrians in collisions
- UPDATED: Joe Boever's tragic death on Hwy 14: news digest about Ravnsborg's fatal accident
Photo: Ravnsborg's Taurus, via Rapid City Journal. From the New York Times' transcription:"“We know that his face came through your windshield,” one investigator said. The vehicle also had an imprint from at least part of the man’s body on the hood, an investigator said, adding that “at some point he rolls off and slides into the ditch.”
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