Crime

South Dakota's Actual Law Enforcement Peeved With AG's Slap On The Wrist

Impeachment may be revving up like Jason Ravnsborg in a 30 mph zone.

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As a general rule, cops always want defendants punished far more harshly than what courts are willing to go… or what basic prudence demands. So it’s always taken with a grain of salt when police issue statements lambasting some reasonably lenient sentence. But the South Dakota Department of Public Safety just wrote a letter to the state House of Representatives in an effort to jumpstart impeachment proceedings against Jason Ravnsborg, the state attorney general that you might remember from when he killed a guy and was only fined $1000 for it.

In a letter attaching a hard drive of investigative materials (available on the next page), Department of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price laid out the investigation’s conclusions:

In my opinion as a 24-year law enforcement officer, and in the opinion of the highly trained highway patrol officers involved in this investigation, Mr. Ravnsborg should have been charged with 2nd Degree Manslaughter. The prosecution team was well aware of that position. The South Dakota Highway Patrol stood ready and willing to provide expert testimony regarding the crash the facts of this investigation at trial, a position that was also made clear to the prosecutor.

Alas, the prosecutors had other ideas, like nerfing the charges down to misdemeanors and letting the AG go on his merry way. Which he happily did… while speeding.

Speaking of his speeding, the body cam footage from his most recent stop has been released. For a guy who’s gotten 7 tickets in 7 years he seems wildly ill-prepared to deal with a stop. And that’s before you find out he didn’t bring his driver’s license with him on this “57 in a 35 zone” joy ride. I flip out if I don’t have my driver’s license on me to walk places.

The ticket was for $177.50. Or just under a fifth of the fine for killing someone.

Watch body cam footage of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s latest traffic stop [Argus Leader]

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Earlier: State AG Killed A Guy… Judge Fines Him $1,000.
State AG Who Killed A Pedestrian Suggests It Was Suicide As Opposed To His Scrolling The Internet While Driving
State Attorney General Told Officers He’d Hit A Deer… In Reality, A Man Is Now Dead
State AG Killed A Man And Told Cops He’d Hit A Deer, Will Only Face Misdemeanor Charges
Dead Man’s Glasses Found INSIDE South Dakota AG’s Car
South Dakota AG Is Going To Keep Driving Dangerously Until He Kills Someone… Again

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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