FORT PIERRE, S.D.—South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg pleaded no contest Thursday to a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges over a crash last year that killed a pedestrian, avoiding jail time despite bitter complaints from the victim’s family that he was being too lightly punished for actions they called “inexcusable.”
Circuit Judge John Brown had little leeway to order jail time. Instead, he fined the state’s top law enforcement official $500 for each count plus court costs of $3,742. Brown also ordered the Republican to “do a significant public service event” in each of the next five years near the date of Joseph Boever’s death—granting a request from the Boever family. But he put that on hold pending a final ruling after Ravnsborg’s attorney objected that it was not allowed by statute.
