KOTA news is reporting tonight that in the misdemeanor case filed against Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, all is not as his detractors have portrayed as his defense drops a huge bombshell in the court action:
In the paperwork that was filed on July 9. Ravnsborg’s attorneys say that Boever had told friends that his preferred method of suicide would be to “throw himself in front of a car”.
And..
The defense also cited medication that had been filled the day before, but only 12 of the 90 pills remained. The medication in question can cause suicidal ideations.
WOW! It seems that there will be a lot of previously unknown information that will come to light.
Why is this relevant? He isn’t charged with killing the guy, he’s charged with distracted driving, on his phone, off the road. This wreaks of Hail Mary victim blaming.
Really? Because it seems to ‘reek’ more of reasonable doubt.
Whether Jason crossed the white line before or after the initial collision is clearly relevant to the distracted driving charge.
It may be used in some aspect of one of the misdemeanor charges, but probably more for defense in the civil action.
Anon 839: I think you’re right on the money. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you’re a lawyer.
Doesn’t sound like one to me.
he wasn’t using his phone at the time of the accident, he is charged with distracted driving but the investigators don’t know what the distraction was (that was an interesting exchange that came out of the governor’s press conference) and bloody skid marks on the road indicate Boever was in the road after all.
Has someone said there were bloody skid marks in the driving lane? I don’t see how the initial collision could have caused both the damage to Jason’s windshield and bloody skid marks.
If true Craig Price needs to resign.
Not a very well-thought out post. If Mr. Boever was experiencing suicidal thoughts and was under the influence this could be very relevant. This goes to assist the position that Mr. Boever put himself into the roadway rather than Mr. Ravnsborg being off the roadway.
If Mr. Boever was over-medicated to the point of being under the influence of drugs and was, as a result, having suicidal thoughts he shares the blame as he was the one who had control of his medication.
INCREDIBLE!
So, now everyone that went around posting that he was a “killer” online may have an *ahem* problem?
I can’t bring myself to analyze this .. but you can imagine what is going through my mind at the moment.
I think that the family of Boever stating that he was suicidal and his preferred method was jumping In front of a car speak volume.
Absolutely. What would be the possible motivation of Mr. Boever’s cousin to make up a story such as this? Notoriety? Money? Doubtful.
Sounds like KELO and other news outlets along with the governor got ahead of the story Obama-style (the police acted stupidly).
This doesn’t change the fact that despite the man’s head going thru his windshield, the AG insisted he thought he hit a deer. What suicidal man would bring a flashlight with him to jump in front of a car? Was he afraid of falling down and getting hurt before he jumped in front of a car? Everybody deserves their day in court and I’m not a lawyer but I do have common sense. This seems like a clear case of distracted driving. Feel bad for the man’s family. Not only is he dead but now these accusations.
Except the prosecutors already said he was NOT on his phone at the time
The family is the one that said Joe had talked of suicide and throwing himself in front of a car.
Clearly a disturbed man…he talked of suicide and throwing himself in front of a car.
Sad situation all around.
Anon at 1:29… And in small towns like Highmore, everybody knows who’s desperately unhappy. In this case, Mr. Boever may have been distraught to the point of running in front of a car going 67 mph and choosing to ruin someone else’s life to boot.
Agreed… sad situation all around.
Cliff – my thoughts exactly.
And, let’s not forget the missing medication.
He may have been *ahem* weaponized.
AG’s are always a target .. it’s a very difficult job with a lot of shenanigans.
I almost always agree with Cliff Hadley, but I know from painful experience that many of the rumors that circulate in small towns are totally untrue.
Anonymous at 3:35… Concur. Rumors and half-truths cause a ton of damage, and I’ve had to shake off a ton of whoppers about me over the years. Still, it’s possible to have an accurate fix on the difficult circumstances among individuals in a community without resorting to rumor or slander.
Seems like these rumors have a lot of truth in them, so your experience that some rumors in small towns are untrue is purely anecdotal.
We just need to know more than this. These suicidal thoughts don’t put Mr. Ravnsborg back on the road, and driving over the line doesn’t mean that Mr. Boever was in his right mind. The flashlight comment is key, not because he took it with him but because it was ON when they found it. Without more, I’d say there’s a good chance this doesn’t make it to the jury.
Your post seems to take for granted that Mr. Ravnsborg was over the white line when he struck Mr. Boever, but that isn’t a proven fact by any stretch of the imagination. Also, I don’t see anywhere that the flashlight has been proven to have been on at the time. Also, was it a 500 lumens Maglight or a pencil flashlight used for finding your keys?
Also, I don’t believe this is going to a jury but will be heard by a judge.
I’m not speaking to any particular facts, merely attempting to point out that this would only be the tip of the ice berg. There’s a good chance this doesn’t make it to a jury, but with the right corroborating evidence it could become the whole case. We’ll see.
Doubt he had a flashlight…was it documented?? If so, was it on? Was it in his back pocket??
Yes he had a flashlight. It was still on and laying next to the body when they found him.
So he didn’t cross the white line on the shoulder?
Yes, Jason crossed the white line, but it seems obvious from the photos I’ve seen that he was already in the act of braking before he did, and I don’t see why he would have applied the brakes and swerved toward Joe, unless you’re suggesting he hit him on purpose.
unless the famous skid marks are not his–what would you say to that?
I’d say you’re probably trolling.
Honest question: Who was the first person to claim Joe’s flashlight was still on and lying next to his body when they found him?
RushmoreRep you seem to have more information than was discussed at the official press conference, which is likely the only information which is credible.
So the flashlight was still on and next to him? or under him? and what kind of flashlight? how many lumens? Who told you he had a flashlight? Who told you his face went through the windshield? and who said he wore glasses?
If somebody’s glasses were found in Ravnsborg’s car, did a family member identify them as Boever’s? Maybe they belonged to somebody else.
I have seen photos of Boever, from his high school yearbook photo, to the one i his obituary and a whole lot of snapshots in between. He isn’t wearing glasses in any of them.
Accusations in the form of evidence and facts. Since you must have psychiatric expertise as to what a suicidal person would or would not do, please expound upon your post.
Angela Kennecke posted “Ravnsborg defense is also claiming that evidence at the scene shows that Joe Boever was in the middle of the highway, not the shoulder of the road.”
So we have learned Joe Boever has had psych issues; made suicidal statements about throwing himself in front of a car, there is evidence of Ravnsborg’s car in the roadway and Joe had been acting erratic before the incident where we already knew he went in the ditch and did not report it himself and his cousin helped him leave the scene of that accident and did not report it either…….the plot has thickened considerably and screams of a rush to judgment…..that is why due process maters and getting all of the facts not some of them….
From the beginning I said we should reserve judgement as everyone (the worst and best, highest an lowest, richest and poorest) has the right to a trial by their peers- to allow two competing sides the time to present evidence and allow a jury to sort through all the facts and information to discern the truth and administer justice.
Two observations.
SD officials pushing for impeachment look terrible if this is true – they lose all credibility in our justice system of innocent until proven guilty.
Second if this is in fact true then was Boever looking to commit suicide carrying a flashlight and hoping a car would collide with him by walking on the shoulder?
The skid marks were outside the line (clear from all pictures at the time). This guy was walking on the shoulder and got killed. Trying to attack him is pretty darned low.
Are you an accident reconstruction expert? Let’s leave it to the court.
Nothing has been released to who’s skid marks those they are. Maybe they are from Boever’s truck when he drove it off the road earlier that day in the daylight. It looks like Boever should not have been driving his truck that day at all being so over-medicated.
Well, it’s a good thing you aren’t involved in the legal process since you obviously don’t believe in innocent until proven guilty, comrade. It has not been proven that Mr. Boever was walking on the shoulder when he was struck, so your statement bears no weight whastsover.
Also, it has not be proven whose skid marks those were; you don’t have a clue, but you seem more than willing to act as if you have facts.
Also, what you term an attack is a person putting forth a defense, which is still allowed under our Constitution; I’m not sure about your personal constitution.
Low is claiming all your statements are true when you don’t actually know.
Try waiting until there are some facts out there before you bloviate.
Either you are a Jackley sycophant or you are a demented Dem.
they should get a copy of Boever’s drivers license, too, and settle the question of whether he wore corrective lenses.
Because from what I have seen in photos posted on facebook, he didn’t wear glasses.
This is textbook Tim Rensch.
Defending his client to the best of his abilities with all the information he can gather? Yeah, what a jerk.
Mr. Rensch should also subpoena the travel records of Joe Biden. Accordingly, we have every reason to believe that Joe Biden actually pushed Boever out into the road in an attempt to stop the political career of this young Republican wunderkid! For shame, dumbocrats, for shame!
How is this a helpful comment, so dumb.
So, vigorously defending your client with facts is not acceptable in your world, comrade? You would do well in Russia or China as they hew to your philosophy of life.
He was taking anti-psych medication and he had 90 pills and only have 12 left after a day or two….that alone sounds like a recipe for disaster
Agreed. A lot more to this story than the one-sided information against Ravnsborg over the past months.
These psychotropic drugs can cause suicidal ideations (and mass murders) because they numb the mind’s defenses against demonic influence.
But here’s a corollary for those who reject Christ’s teachings about angels and demons.
Removing anxiety isn’t good if anxiety is what keeps you from killing yourself.
What side of the road is Angela on?
Fair and unbiased?
Do I smell crow …
KELO is CNN OF THE MIDWEST.
Oh snap.
Kelo got most of their info from craig price and governor noem. It’s not just the liberal media busy sensationalizing this story before a trial.
Kinda shows what Noem’s agenda is; not the truth but rather a political end.
He was walking on the shoulder and carrying a flashlight. His head went thru the windshield of the car. The man’s glasses were found in the backseat. The AG didn’t know what he hit and thought it was a deer. Deer don’t carry flashlights and wear glasses.
Boever didn’t wear glasses either. At least not in any of the photos his friends posted on facebook after he died. Not one photo of him wearing glasses. And what evidence is there that his head went through the windshield?
That’s why interrogation interviews aren’t supposed to be released.
Who knows what is fact in one of those videos. Who knows if they just made that up to see if he would say he did see him.
I was raised to honor law enforcement officers, but I’ve learned the hard way that they lie frequently and ruthlessly.
Law enforcement is allowed to lie to people in interviews. so showing the video tapes is beyond reckless….we don’t know what if anything is true from them….
Exactly, and the biggest lie is the one they tell at the beginning. They say you need to be interviewed “for your own protection,” then twist the truth you give them into more lies they can use against you in court. The more information you provide, the easier it is for them to destroy your life.
The hole in Ravnsborg’s windshield and Boever’s glasses in the car. Any other questions?
Yes, Matlock; where were the glasses in the car and did Jason actually see Mr. Boever in his windshield before and during the impact?
Your comment sure is one-sided, and I bet if you were in Mr. Ravnsborg’s position you would want vigorous defense.
You would do well in a communist regime where they throw you in the gulag if you get in the way of your political goals, RR. You are not about justice but about your own agenda.
You are clearly not in favor of the American system of justice where someone is innocent until proven guilty. I would assume that you would accept the same treatment if you were in trouble, RR.
Mary, is that you?
I hope Jason R is acquitted at trial the same week Amendment A is invalidated by the Supreme Court.
We might as well just shut down state government at that point. We will be a national laughingstock (yet again). No one will have any faith whatsoever in the system.
Except Troy.
And then we can hope that all the outsiders from Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, etc. will STOP moving here to SD.
I’ve been mostly quiet about this, but I’ve suspected suicide from the beginning, even before I knew anything about Joe’s personal history. I’ve also suspected from the beginning that the vehicle struck his body twice. The first collision would have been in the driving lane and caused the damage to the windshield, throwing the body forward onto the shoulder and leaving little physical evidence in the roadway. The vehicle would have then angled toward the shoulder and struck Joe’s body again as Jason applied the brakes, causing the extensive damage to the vehicle’s right front fender.
I don’t understand how a single human body could cause all of the damage to Jason’s vehicle in a single collision, and I don’t understand how anyone could be sure there wasn’t a collision in the roadway before the collision on the shoulder.
I also don’t understand how any part of Joe’s body could have hit Jason’s windshield during the same collision that left a large blood smear on the surface of the shoulder.
Maybe Joe’s body was lodged in the windshield before sliding forward off the hood when the car lurched toward the shoulder and braked. It still would have been almost impossible for Jason to see what he hit in the dark. Then the second collision could have left the blood smear, knocked the body into the ditch, and caused Jason’s anti-lock brakes to go into a skid.
If this whole ordeal has taught me and hopefully the legislators who wanted to pounce on impeachment; the Governor and the public is you can not try a case in the public.
This is a tragic accident that could have happened to anyone.
Ravnsborg had to fight this to clear his name he was thrown under the bus by Noem. The cornerstone of our republic is fair judiciary we have to hold the process high and not let it be corrupted by the liberal press.
Great point lost on those with a political agenda.
So Gov Noem reads the file for 10 hours and doesn’t think it was important to tell the public that there was debris in the roadway? Then that Joe has a number of issues with psych matters.
This matter was politicized from day 1….some in legal community have always been jealous and angry that Jason won in the first place.
These are minor misdemeanors that in any normal matter there would be a no contest plea to something and be done with it. Many simiar cases have been in paper since those happened with no charges as I have been watching since this happened. Just a sad tragedy for everyone.
The only good news here is that Jason’s political career is over.
welll its clear its been a politically driven witch hunt since the beginning —
Back on February 19th, The South Dakota Standard published an article by Nick Nemec about his ideas about the crash. It’s long, it’s detailed, discusses the distance between point of impact and where the body was found, the skid marks, questions about how fast a Ford Taurus can accelerate, what time the Governor announced the crash and what time he identified the body. His own theory about why the AG and sheriff didn’t see the body was that it was stuck under the car.
And there is no mention of a pair of glasses or a flashlight in that article. Nada.
Now it seems to me, if you were going to write an article about a family member months after an accident and you wanted to make the driver look as negligent as possible, you would include information about a pair of glasses found in the car and a lit flashlight found next to the body. But he doesn’t.
His omission of any mention of a flashlight or glasses suggests these items do not exist outside of the fevered imaginations of conspiracy theorists.
No, if my memory is correct those items were found, but also remember the tow truck driver didn’t see the body either, who took the car away, so it’s horrible to think about, but most likely they just didn’t know there was a body there. It was not a coverup. The tow truck driver got the car up on his equipment and still didn’t see him or the flashlight, unless if was unfunctional at that point. I don’t remember reading it was actually producing light, but this is what a trial is for, not this shameless attempt to deny a person of their due process. Noem, the media, and of course the “progressive” blogs, but most damaging probably is Noem. She was transparent in her attempt to bury Ravnsborg and get rid of a political problem that was getting bad press. Oh, how I miss Daugaard, a man of integrity from everything I’ve heard about him, not this ambitious Noem with no scruples Trump’s evil stepdaughter or the like.
Honest question: What memory indicates to you that glasses and a flashlight were found?
Sorry Charlie I didn’t bookmark the page, but I did read most of the news stories thoroughly, especially those by Keloland which may have a slant but the information there is accurate. I came not to trust Tom Lawrence and the articles he submitted to The Daily Beast he left things out. It’s a terrible story and we should never forget the loss of life, but that man had responsibilities for his own life which he did not seem to care for and take the precautions like most people would late at night, too close to the road, no reason for him to be walking there, just so many odd things that didn’t make sense. Ravsnborg should have the right to clear his name just as much as be found not guilty of these minor infractions. It disappoints me the “progressive” wing of the left, not Classical Liberal types who are closer to Libertarians and Republicans in some ways, can’t see how their arrogance blinds them. And also that the Republicans in our state refuse to fully hold Noem to account.