The Iowa Judicial Branch’s mission is to provide independent and accessible forums for fair and prompt resolution of disputes, administering justice equally to all persons. (Gavel photo by Getty Images; seal courtesy the State of Iowa)
The former attorney general of South Dakota is objecting to a proposed six-month suspension of his Iowa law license due to his involvement in a 2020 traffic fatality.
In September, the South Dakota Supreme Court suspended for six months the South Dakota law license of Jason Ravnsborg, who served as that state’s attorney general from 2019 until his impeachment and removal from office in 2022.
Because Ravnsborg is licensed to practice law in Iowa, he was recently notified that his Iowa license may also be subject to a six-month suspension based on South Dakota’s actions.
Ravnsborg recently filed a written response to that notice, arguing that an identical suspension in Iowa “would be too severe.” In his response, he cites the fact that he was born on an Iowa farm in Cherokee County and later served three military deployments to Iran and Afghanistan.
In his response, Ravnsborg also says he believes that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whom he had been investigating at the time of the fatality, “did everything she could to intimidate, interfere and influence” what he calls “the automobile investigation.” He adds that he still believes “she had to get me, otherwise she would be exposed for her actions.”
Both Noem and Ravnsborg are Republicans.
Ravnsborg also says resigning would have been the easier path for him to take but he opted to remain in office to serve “my client, the state of South Dakota, who repeatedly shows up on lists as one of the most corrupt states.”
Ravnsborg has also informed the Iowa Supreme Court that he is willing to sit before the Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board and answer questions or appear at a hearing before the Iowa Supreme Court. He adds that he believes he should “be given no more than a private reprimand” so he can move forward after four years of dealing with the matter.
The Iowa Supreme Court has yet to issue a decision in the case, but a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2025.
The death of Joe Boever
Court records indicate Ravnsborg graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 2001 and was later admitted to the bar in both South Dakota and Iowa. In 2018, he was elected to serve as South Dakota’s attorney general, and he took office in early 2019.
About 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2020, according to court records, Ravnsborg was driving from a political event in Redfield, South Dakota, to his home in Pierre, South Dakota, when he struck and killed a man, 55-year-old Joe Boever, who was walking on the shoulder of the road near the town of Highmore.
According to court records, Ravnsborg slowly brought his vehicle to a stop and called 911, telling the operator, “I’m the attorney general. And I am – I don’t know – I hit something.” The operator asked whether he had hit “a deer or something,” and he allegedly replied, “I have no idea, yeah, it could be, I mean it was right in the roadway.”
Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek was dispatched to the scene but couldn’t locate anything Ravnsborg struck. Because Ravnsborg’s car was so damaged it could not be driven, Volek then offered Ravnsborg the use of his personal vehicle to complete the drive home to Pierre.
Court records indicate that the next day, Ravnsborg returned to Highmore with his chief of staff to return the sheriff’s vehicle. On the way, they stopped at the site of the crash and found Boever’s body lying just off the side of the road. They then informed Volek of their discovery, and Volek advised Ravnsborg to go back home to Pierre. The sheriff then contacted the South Dakota Highway Patrol and Division of Criminal Investigation.
State officials later revealed that within two days of the accident, Ravnsborg received a text message about Boever from an unnamed consultant saying, “Well, at least the guy was a Democrat.”
When he was interviewed by investigators, Ravnsborg denied having consumed any drugs or alcohol on the night of the accident – which, according to court records, was confirmed by a blood test. Investigators also concluded that excessive speed was not a factor in the accident and while Ravnsborg had been on his phone for some of his commute between Redfield and Highmore, both of his phones were locked at the time of the accident.
Ultimately, investigators concluded Ravnsborg had been driving outside the lane of travel, just off the roadway, when the accident occurred. Ravnsborg pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor offenses — operating a vehicle while using a cell phone and improper lane driving — and a charge of careless driving was dismissed.
Ravnsborg then entered into a confidential civil settlement with Boever’s estate. In June 2022, he was impeached by the South Dakota Senate, removed from office and barred from ever holding public office again in South Dakota.
Board cites lack of apology and condolences
The Disciplinary Board of the State Bar of South Dakota subsequently investigated the matter and recommended a 26-month suspension of Ravnsborg’s law license.
The board noted that in the immediate aftermath of the accident, the South Dakota governor publicly asked Ravnsborg to resign or take a leave of absence, which Ravnsborg refused to do. The board also alleged that when responding to questions by investigators, Ravnsborg “did not appear to be forthright, and (was) only willing to acknowledge certain conduct after being confronted with evidence by the investigators.”
The board also alleged that Ravnsborg frequently identified himself as “the attorney general” when encountering law enforcement for minor traffic violations, such as speeding, running a stop sign, and “when making a 911 call from the highway shortly after killing Joe Boever.”
In its written findings, the board also stated that “Ravnsborg was not sincere in his remarks concerning how badly he felt for Boever’s family and bluntly stated, ‘And I’m going down the road and my life changed,’ and that, ‘I had no idea, to be clear, until the next morning when I found the body and it changed my life forever.’”
The board also noted that from the night of the accident and continuing throughout his service as attorney general, Ravnsborg made no public or private apology, never expressed his condolences to the Boever family, and he never acknowledged any culpability.
Ravnsborg, the board concluded, was more concerned with the “impact of the incident on his political and military careers than the victim, the victim’s family and the public he served.”
Ravnsborg challenged those findings and the matter went before a retired circuit judge to act as “referee” in resolving the dispute.
The referee concluded Ravnsborg had not been dishonest or misleading and that he had conducted himself in a manner befitting of an attorney. He did, however, recommend that Ravnsborg be censored for identifying himself as the attorney general when dealing with the police in order to win “favorable treatment” from officers.
Court settles on six-month suspension
In opting for a six-month law license suspension, the South Dakota Supreme Court stated that “several of Ravnsborg’s statements after the accident raise questions about his honesty and truthfulness.”
The court noted that Ravnsborg had repeatedly denied using his phones during his drive from Redfield to Highmore.
According to the court, the metadata on one of Ravnsborg’s phones showed that “minutes before” he called 911, he had unlocked his phone, checked his Yahoo email account, accessed the Dakota Free Press website, and clicked on a political news article.
It was only after investigators informed him of that evidence, the court said, that “Ravnsborg’s story took another turn” and he admitted “looking at stuff” on his phone before the accident.
“Ravnsborg’s responses demonstrated a concerted effort to avoid criminal liability through dishonesty and misrepresentations,” the court concluded.
The court also made note of Ravnsborg’s decision to “conceal himself from the public eye” in the aftermath of the accident, even while refusing to take a leave of absence. “Each decision he made was influenced by personal aspirations and political survival rather than his responsibility to serve the public and uphold the integrity of his office,” the court stated.
The court also noted two instances of Ravnsborg being stopped for minor traffic offenses – once in Nebraska and once in Iowa — and informing the officers that he was the South Dakota attorney general. In both cases, he was released without a citation being issued, the court stated.