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South Dakota Attorney General Jason Lawnsborg lied to investigators after beating a pedestrian and abused the power of his office.
Ravnsborg lawyers argued that such actions would improperly revoke voters’ willingness to maintain what he was doing.
Republican Ravnsborg, who recently announced that he wouldn’t seek a second term, faces two charges in the state’s first impeachment trial. Criminal investigators, some lawmakers, and the victim’s family questioned Loansborg’s truthfulness about his actions after the 2020 crash. Senators may also vote on whether Loansborg should be barred from taking future jobs.
In any case, the outcome of the procedure, which is expected to take two days, is to counter Republican Governor Kristi Noem with Loansborg and some of her own parties who opposed her aggressive pursuit of his dismissal. , Will close the chapter that has disturbed the state’s politics.
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“He absolutely saw the man who was beaten shortly thereafter,” said Alexis Tracy, a lawyer in Clay County, who leads the prosecution.
Prosecutors also said that even if Loansborg made a “false statement and a complete lie” to the crash investigator, he used his title to “tune and gain influence” in the aftermath of the crash. I told a member of the Diet. The prosecution played a montage of Lawnsborg’s audio clips, calling himself the Attorney General.
When they asked the crash investigator, the prosecutor contacted Boever’s family to express his condolences, as he never drove the speed limit excessively during the aftermath of the crash. He investigated Ravnsborg’s alleged misrepresentations, including what he did and what he hadn’t viewed, on his phone on his way home.
Lone’s Borg claimed that he did nothing wrong and threw the impeachment trial as an opportunity to clear himself. Last year he settled a criminal case by not challenging minor traffic crimes, such as illegal lane changes and the use of telephones while driving, and was fined by a judge.
Attorney General’s defense focused on the effects of impeachment in the opening statement on Tuesday and called on parliamentarians to consider the effects of their decision on the functioning of the state government. Ravnsborg used Ross Garber, a legal analyst and professor of law at Lane College, who specializes in impeachment proceedings.
“This is overturning the will of voters,” Gerber told the Senate. “No doubt that’s what you think.”
Lone’s Borg was returning home from political funding after dark on September 12, 2020, on a state road in central South Dakota when his car hit “something.” He later said it could have been a deer or other animal.
Ravnsborg said he and the county sheriff who came to the scene were unaware that he had beaten a man (55-year-old Joseph Boever) until Ravnsborg returned to the scene the next morning.
Investigators said they doubted some of Lawnsborg’s remarks. In previous testimony to lawmakers, they said they had determined that the Attorney General was walking past Bobber’s body and was still illuminated the next morning when the flashlight Bobber looked around the scene on the night of the crash. ..
You can’t go through without seeing it. “
The impeachment prosecutor on Tuesday laid out the night timeline and drilled down a few seconds before and after the crash. They raised the fact that a crash investigator who examined Ravnsborg’s cell phone found limited GPS data within minutes of walking the Attorney General at the crash site.
Cassidy Halses, an agent at the North Dakota Criminal Investigation Bureau, who looked at Lawnsborg’s cell phone, couldn’t explain why the phone didn’t contain that much accurate GPS data, but Lawnsborg said. He said there were no signs of tampering with the phone.
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However, the prosecutor also proposed an exchange made with one of his staff three days after the crash, after Lawnsborg submitted his phone to the crash investigator. Ravnsborg asks South Dakota Criminal Investigation Bureau investigators what happens during a forensic examination of his cell phone, even though he was not supposed to be involved in the investigation to avoid conflicts of interest. did.
“We’re not going to get involved,” explained Brent Groomer, a now retired agent, why the exchange made him uncomfortable.
Investigators thought they were, for example, when Lawnsborg looked back at the scene of the accident and said, “I saw him,” and then immediately corrected himself and said, “I didn’t see him.” Was identified in a statement by Lawnsborg. And they claimed that Boever’s face passed through Ravnsborg’s windshield as his glasses were found in the car.
On Tuesday, Lawnsborg’s defense also referred to the criminal prosecutor’s decision to prosecute him only for misdemeanor of traffic. The defense said Loansborg cooperated fully during the investigation and cast his misrepresentation as a result of human error rather than malicious intent. His lawyer said Loansborg would be happy to take the polygraph test, but criminal investigators determined that testing the Attorney General’s authenticity would not have been effective.
The GOP-managed Senate, which has 32 Republicans and three Democrats, will hear from impeachment prosecutors, lawyers, crash investigators, and former Loansborg officials.
It takes 24 senators, or two-thirds of the 35 members of the body, to convict Lawnsborg in either of the two impeachment articles of the crime and fraud that caused the death.
The latter alleges that he misunderstood the investigators and abused the power of his office. Investigators said Lawnsborg asked agents in the state’s criminal investigation office about what accident investigators could find on his cell phone. He said he simply wanted factual information.
Nome demanded that Lawnsborg resign shortly after the crash and later pressured lawmakers to pursue impeachment. Nome also publicly approved Republican Marty Jackley, the predecessor of Lawnsborg, in the election to replace him. If Ravnsborg is deported, the Governor will tentatively appoint him to fill the post until the new Attorney General, elected in November, swears.
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Ravnsborg claims that the governor, who was struck by the possibility of a bid for the White House in 2024, sought his dismissal, partly because he had investigated ethical complaints against Nome.
In September Ravnsborg agreed on a private settlement with Boever’s widow.