South Dakota attorney general impeachment effort halted

Lawmakers in South Dakota voted Monday to halt their impeachment effort against the state’s attorney general, who faces three misdemeanor charges for striking and killing a man in a collision last year.

The South Dakota House of Representatives voted 57-11 to amend the resolution that called for impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg to make it “on the potential impeachment” of the attorney general.

Ravnsborg said in a statement provided to CNN later Tuesday by his spokesman Mike Deaver that the House’s move “will allow the legal system to proceed without further interference and with due process.”

“I have cooperated fully with investigators and law enforcement in this matter and look forward to its resolution,” he added.

The articles were first filed on February 23 by Republican state Rep. Will Mortenson, but gained broad support from his colleagues, including GOP House Majority Leader Kent Peterson and House Minority Leader Jamie Smith, a Democrat, both of whom co-sponsored the resolution.

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem also supports the impeachment effort, her spokesperson, Ian Fury, said last month. The governor has also called on Ravnsborg to resign.

CNN has reached out to Noem’s office for comment on Monday’s vote.

Ravnsborg faces three misdemeanor charges in the September 12 accident that led to the death of 55-year-old Joseph Boever.

Calls for his ousting ramped up last month after officials released new evidence in the case, including saying they found Boever’s broken glasses in Ravnsborg’s car and that the victim’s face had come through the attorney general’s windshield. Ravnsborg initially told police he had hit a deer, but he discovered Boever’s body the following morning after returning to the scene of the collision.

The article of impeachment filed by Mortenson says that “following the collision, including during his reporting of the collision and the resulting investigation, Jason Ravnsborg undertook actions unbecoming the Attorney General.”

Ravnsborg, a Republican, was elected South Dakota attorney general in 2018, according to his office’s website.

This story has been updated with a statement from the South Dakota attorney general.