The South Dakota Home on Tuesday impeached state Legal professional Normal Jason Ravnsborg over a 2020 deadly crash through which he initially advised authorities he thought he had struck a deer or one other giant animal.
Ravnsborg will at the very least briefly be faraway from workplace pending the historic Senate trial, the place it takes a two-thirds majority to convict on impeachment prices.
Ravnsborg pleaded no contest final yr to a pair of site visitors misdemeanors within the crash, together with making an unlawful lane change. He solid Joseph Boever's dying as a tragic accident.
On Monday night time, he despatched lawmakers a pair of defiant letters urging them to vote in opposition to impeachment.
"In a number of hours, your vote will set a precedent for years to come back," Ravnsborg mentioned within the first of two letters despatched Monday night time and obtained by the Argus Chief. "No state has ever impeached an elected official for a site visitors accident."
The South Dakota Legislature had by no means investigated impeachment for an elected official, and solely as soon as, in 1917, launched an impeachment inquiry right into a circuit decide.
Ravnsborg's letter additionally accused Republican Gov. Kristi Noem of interfering within the investigation and of supporting impeachment due to the legal professional common's investigations into her habits. A second letter from Ravnsborg's spokesman delved into "proof, allegations and misconceptions," in regards to the case.
In its 36-31 vote, the Home rejected the advice of a GOP-backed majority report from a particular investigative committee and sided with Noem, who has argued that Ravnsborg lied to investigators. Democrats additionally had pushed for impeachment, arguing that he was not "forthcoming" to legislation enforcement officers and had abused the facility of his workplace.
Ravnsborg, who took workplace in 2019, initially advised aides and a 911 dispatcher he didn't know what he hit on a rural freeway as he was returning dwelling from a Republican dinner in September 2020. He went again to the scene the subsequent day and discovered the physique of 55-year-old Boever, who had been strolling on the freeway's shoulder.
The Freeway Patrol concluded that Ravnsborg's automobile crossed fully onto the freeway shoulder earlier than hitting Boever, and legal investigators mentioned later that they did not imagine a few of Ravnsborg's statements.
The particular investigative committee's report argued Ravnsborg's actions within the crash have been unrelated to his official duties.
However some Republicans raised doubts in regards to the crash reconstruction and the place Boever was when he was hit. Ravnsborg, who has mentioned little in regards to the crash, denied being untruthful in a quick interview in February.
Ravnsborg is positioning for a reelection bid. He would face a Republican challenger, former legal professional common Marty Jackley, on the June GOP conference that decides its subsequent nominee.