South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem says she still hasn’t heard anything from Hyde County States Attorney Emily Stovell on whether criminal charges will be filed against Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for fatally hitting a pedestrian in Sept.
In a press conference Thursday, Noem said her office had made inquiries for updates on a regular basis and has gotten no answers – adding that she’s disappointed at the lack of action, which called a “grave disservice” to the family of the victim, 55-year old Joseph Boever over Highmore.
Ravnsborg was returning to Pierre from a Republican party event on Sept 12 when he struck Boever along Hwy 14 a mile west of Highmore around 10:30 pm. Ravnsborg says he thought he hit a deer and called 911, but Boever’s body wasn’t found until the next day.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol’s eventual accident report said the Attorney General was “distracted” as he drove, but gave no details about what the distraction was. Gov Noem expressed frustration last month with the slow pace of the case which had gone over 100 days at that time.
Stovell has been consulting with her fellow states attorneys in Pennington, Minnehaha, and Beadle counties on what charges, if any, would be appropriate to file against Ravnsborg.
Ravnsborg has declined to issue an in-depth statement on the accident, saying he’s waiting until all the facts and the full story are out but that he felt confident he had “not committed any crime.”