By Jravnsbo1 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75149096

The Attorney General of South Dakota, Jason Ravnsborg is now facing three misdemeanor charges after fatally striking a pedestrian on a highway in September.

Ravnsborg faces one charge of operating a car while using a cell phone, one count of failing to stay in his lane, and one count of careless driving.

As The Daily Wire reports:

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has been charged with several misdemeanors after fatally striking a pedestrian with his car while driving on the highway at night, state authorities announced in a press conference Thursday…

Hyde County Deputy State’s Attorney Emily Sovell said these charges were supported by the evidence but emphasized that Ravnsborg was not using his phone at the time of the accident. Ravnsborg was, however, using one of his cell phones a minute before the crash, she said.

Michael Moore, the South Dakota state’s attorney for Beadle County, said a vehicular manslaughter charge couldn’t apply because there was no evidence that Ravnsborg was intoxicated and driving in a negligent manner — two criteria necessary for prosecutors to bring such a charge forward.

Sovell said manslaughter would also not apply because such a charge requires a person to “consciously and unjustifiably” disregard a “substantial risk,” a step further than mere negligence. “Operation of a motor vehicle in violation of a law is not in and of itself sufficient to constitute the recklessness required for that manslaughter statue, even if a person is killed as a result,” she explained.

Ravnsborg originally told officers he thought he had hit a deer or other animal the night he struck and killed local resident Joseph Boever, 55 while driving home from a fundraiser.

 



Comments

  1. How is careless driving not driving in a negligent manner? This is insane! A car in operation is a potential lethal weapon, especially at night . Guess in So. Dakota if you wave around a loaded gun with the safety off and it discharges and kills someone, it’s not your fault if you didn’t intend to pull the trigger, you were just being careless? My bad, misdemeanor. No problem. Move along. The family of the dead pedestrian should be mounting a HUGE civil suit and make this guy pay for the rest of his sorry life!! Then go after these ridiculous prosecutors for failure to protect the public, their sworn duty!!

    1. You are an idiot who deserves to be judged by the same measure you judge, who do you “think” you are,GOD, well you ain’t and outside a court of law you stupid opinion means NOTHING. Every REAL CRIME HAS A MOTIVE? This man did nothing wrong but accidentally hit someone in the middle of the road, at night, he contacted the authorities. Hope to God this never happens to you.

      1. god is too busy blessing; globalists and globalist puppet $oro$ and globalist puppet democrat criminal party and globalist puppet rino criminal party and globalist puppet fbi CRIMINAL organisation and globalist media and libby snow flake sheep AND altar boy raping priests .

      2. Are you a police captain? Anyone else did that and the whole world would come down on their head… this is favoritism and same argument would never work in a court of law.. just for those “special” ones…

        1. Nathan, the law requires “intent” for murder and “gross negligence” for man slaughter charges to make it to trail. He should be charges and indicted to a grand jury and let them decide. Jury of we the people is proper way to decide just like Rodney King, Trevon Martin, Mike Brown and George Floyd. If not, should we go riot in the streets of Souix Falls burning private property and injuring and killing the innocent? I have not heard anyone ask why was the victim in the middle of an active lane of the guest and did he die of Vivid after arriving at the hospital? Joe Knukem

          1. It stayed he DID NOT maintain his lane so maybe he hit him on the side of the hyw. veering off🚫

        2. Really Nathan. You mean like the favoritism that Biden and his crime family are receiving? I shot you down in 1 sentence.

    2. He is a globalist puppet, democrat criminal party, they will issue him a citation for disorderly conduct and pay 50.00 fine and go home . . . . .

      1. I think you are referring to Biden and his crime family or Hilary and her crime family or any of the players in the lieing coup attempt against President Trump.

    3. They will most likely come back and say the pedestrian was drunk and wandered in front of him. But we have to remember the killer is an official of a State . It is still murder .

    4. This is a stupid response. Waving a loaded gun around is a crime. Driving on a highway is not. For all those who have not crossed over into another lane ever, cast the first stone. Why don’t we wait for this to play out then to convict him. He’s innocent until proven guilty.

      But that aspect of the law has be ignored in today’s world. Keyboard warriors but in to something that is none of their business.

      No one here knows anything about this case, so lighten up.

    1. Guilty yes, but his crime under law and common sense doesn’t justify prison time. Perhaps mandatory suspension of drivers license is appropriate. Also, there’ll likely be a civil lawsuit.

  2. Again. Politicians get off whereby the average citizen would have been charged with manslaughter and gotten prison time. Pitiful.

  3. Kill a man while driving in a negligent manner and it’s a misdemeanor? Unless there are some contributing circumstances on the victim’s part that we are not being given (like the deceased was intoxicated and wandering around on a dark highway). I can’t see at least manslaughter.

    Sounds like a whitewash to me with the information given.

  4. Another fine globalist puppet, democrat criminal party ? There is no political party mentioned in the headlines or the “story” which means it is always a globalist puppet, democrat criminal party. IF it were a republican the political party would have been mentioned in the headline and mentioned several times in the story, the article would be only about his political party .

    1. He is a republican!

      TBH it shouldn’t matter what party anyone’s in! If someone accidentally knocks someone over which results in the victims death then regardless of party & position they should be charged with the death, or whatever the authorities decide. We the humble person should not judge unless we were either present in the car or were a witness to the accident.

  5. Drivers use of cellphones in a moving automobile should be outlawed across the United States of America! Drivers using cellphones kill more people than drunk driving does!

    1. Thought it already was against the law? Ckd it IS against the law!
      South Dakota ban on phone use while driving starts July 1June 27, 2020 see link

      https://apnews.com/article/4614a2d1e38eb99622909f3c003c6699#:~:text=A%20new%20state%20law%20taking,phone%20up%20to%20their%20ear.

  6. But if it were people like me with no power killing someone with a car would automatically bring a charge of manslaughter regardless of no evidence that he was using his cel phone or reckless driving .

  7. South Dakota … same state where the former Governor and then-current Congressman Bill Janklow ran a stop sign and killed a motorcyclist in 2003.

  8. Although driving while texting should be a serious offense, so should walking down a highway at night with no reflectors or lights. Rip to the person killed. Maybe we should pass laws about walking down the highway at night.

  9. And we should be surprised, right? If you are in the government, you can get away with murder. In this case, not to the extent of murder, as far as we know, but if this happened to me, I would be locked up for 15 years plus…..

  10. Wonder if he feels bad..I say they should make a phone inoperable while a vehicle is in gear.Billy Gates,work on that and get out of the medical field👍

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *