FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) 鈥� 麻豆传媒AV Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg pleaded no contest Thursday to a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges over a crash last year that killed a pedestrian, avoiding jail time despite bitter complaints from the victim鈥檚 family that he was being too lightly punished for actions they called 鈥渋nexcusable.鈥�
Circuit Judge John Brown had little leeway to order jail time. Instead, he fined the state's top law enforcement official $500 for each of the two counts and ordered him to pay court costs of $3,742. Brown also ordered the Republican attorney general to 鈥渄o a significant public service event鈥� in each of the next five years near the date of Joseph Boever鈥檚 death 鈥� granting a request from the Boever family. But he put that on hold after Ravnsborg鈥檚 attorney objected that it was not allowed by statute.
Brown was to consider that argument and rule later.
Ravnsborg said in a statement after the hearing that he plans to remain in office. The plea capped the criminal portion of a case that led Gov. Kristi Noem 鈥� a fellow Republican 鈥� and law enforcement groups around the state to no longer support him. But it didn鈥檛 end his troubles, as he still faces a and a potential impeachment attempt.
In his statement, he accused 鈥減artisan opportunists鈥� of exploiting the situation and said they had 鈥渕anufactured rumors, conspiracy theories and made statements in direct contradiction to the evidence all sides agreed upon.鈥�
Noem said in a statement afterward that the Legislature should consider impeachment. She said she had ordered the House speaker be given a copy of the investigative file.
The attorney general was driving home to Pierre from a political fundraiser on Sept. 12 when he struck the 55-year-old Boever, who was walking on the side of a highway. In a 911 call after the crash, Ravnsborg was initially unsure about what he hit and then concluded it had been a deer. He said he didn鈥檛 realize he struck a man until he returned to the crash scene the next day and discovered the body of Boever, who was killed at age 55.
Ravnsborg pleaded no contest to charges of making an illegal lane change and using a phone while driving, which each carry a sentence of up to 30 days in jail and up to a $500 fine. He with three misdemeanors, but prosecutors dropped a careless driving charge as part of the deal.
A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.
Ravnsborg didn't attend the hearing 鈥� he didn't have to and was represented by his attorney, Tim Rensch. That angered Boever's family.
鈥淲hy, after having to wait nearly a year, do we not have the chance to face him?鈥� Boever's sister, Jane Boever, asked the court, adding 鈥渉is cowardly behavior leaves us frustrated.鈥�
She said her brother was 鈥渓eft behind carelessly鈥� 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 鈥渁rrogance toward the law.鈥�
Jane Boever was also frustrated with the prosecution's handling of the case and called the punishment on misdemeanor charges 鈥渁 slap on the wrist.鈥�
鈥淥ur brother lay in the ditch for 12 hours,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is inexcusable.鈥�
Joseph Boever's widow, Jennifer Boever, said Ravnsborg鈥檚 鈥渁ctions are incomprehensible and 鈥� cannot be forgiven.鈥�
Rensch pushed back hard on the family鈥檚 criticism, calling the attorney general an 鈥渉onorable man.鈥� Rensch said Ravsnborg had been consistent from the beginning that he simply did not see Boever. And he noted that the case was 鈥渘ot a homicide case, and it鈥檚 not a manslaughter case,鈥� as prosecutors had said in bringing the misdemeanor charges.
鈥淎ccidents happen, people die. It should not happen. No one wants anybody to die,鈥� he said.
Rensch emphatically told reporters after the hearing that Ravnsborg had cooperated fully with investigators by sitting down for two interviews with detectives and allowing his phones to be analyzed.
鈥淏asically just take your shirt off and say, 鈥楬ere I am, bring it on.鈥� I鈥檒l answer anything you鈥檝e got, and that鈥檚 what this guy did,鈥� Rensch said.
Beadle County State's Attorney Michael Moore, one of the prosecutors, agreed with Rensch that the attorney general had been cooperative. He was also satisfied with Ravnsborg's punishment and the crash investigation.
鈥淏ecause of who it was and the high profile nature of the case, the investigation was a lot more thorough,鈥� he said.
After a months-long investigation led to prosecutors charging Ravnsborg with the three misdemeanors in February, Noem placed maximum pressure on Ravnsborg to resign, releasing videos of investigators questioning him after the crash. They revealed gruesome details, including that detectives believed Boever's body had collided with Ravnsborg's windshield with such force that part of his eyeglasses were deposited in the backseat of Ravnsborg's car.
Rensch told reporters he thinks Noem treated Ravnsborg unfairly, saying he had been subjected to political attacks as the case moved forward. The judge barred state officials in February from divulging details of the investigation and ordered the interview videos removed from a state-run website.
Throughout the criminal investigation and political pressure campaign from his own party, he did anything wrong. He has insisted he had no idea he hit a man until returning to the crash site and that he is still worthy of remaining the state's attorney general.
Prosecutors said Ravnsborg was on his phone roughly one minute before the crash, but phone records showed it was locked at the moment of impact. Ravnsborg told investigators that and looking down at the speedometer.
A toxicology report taken roughly 15 hours after the crash showed no alcohol in Ravnsborg鈥檚 system, and people who attended the fundraiser said he was not seen drinking alcohol.
However, the crash and investigation has opened a divide among Republicans. to force Ravnsborg from office but he has retained support among some GOP circles. The attorney general has even been spotted working booths for local Republican groups at county fairs in recent weeks.
The attorney general built his political rise on personal connections in the party. It was his dutiful attendance at local GOP events like the one he was returning from when he struck Boever that to winning the Republican nomination for attorney general in 2018.
Ravnsborg's popular predecessor, Marty Jackley, is already running for his old job and has collected the support of most of the state's county prosecutors. Perhaps most pressing for Ravnsborg is that legislators are once again considering moving forward with impeachment proceedings.
Stephen Groves, The Associated Press
