The South Dakota State Bar’s Disciplinary Board has recommended that the state Supreme Court suspend former Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s law license for two years.
The board’s recommendation was issued on May 19, 2023, and was obtained by SDPB.
Ravnsborg was impeached and removed from office last year for his role in the death of a South Dakota pedestrian.
The board found that Ravnsborg violated professional conduct standards and eroded public confidence in the legal profession.
The board wants Ravnsborg’s law license suspended for 26 months, which would start retroactively back to June 21, 2022, which was the day the state Senate removed him from office.
Ravnsborg has not practiced law since his removal, but he told the board he intends to seek a position in another jurisdiction.
The complaint against Ravnsborg was filed by Alexis Tracy, the former State’s Attorney for Clay County. Tracy was a prosecutor in the Senate impeachment trial.
Tracy now works in Attorney General Marty Jackley’s office.
The board said that Ravnsborg displayed a troubling lack of understanding of his obligations as a lawyer and treated their investigation as a political dispute, rather than a lawyer discipline matter.