Senate picks prosecutors, date for South Dakota AG Jason Ravnsborg's impeachment trial

Pennington County State's Attorney Mark Vargo will serve as the lead prosecutor in the Senate impeachment trial of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.

The decision comes less than 24 hours after Ravnsborg was impeached by the House of Representatives for conduct related to the traffic fatality of a pedestrian in 2020.

The Senate will hold a two-day trial starting on June 21.

Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, said the trial dates accommodate the schedules of all 35 members of the state senate. It also starts just two days before the South Dakota Republican Party Convention in Watertown, where delegates will nominate their next candidate for attorney general.

Being assisted in the trial by Clay County State's Attorney Alexis Tracy, Vargo comes to the new role as special prosecutor with familiarity to the Ravnsborg case.

That's because he was part of the original team of state's attorneys that Hyde County Deputy State's Attorney Emily Sovell used in determining what charges should be brought. However, Sovell and Vargo stopped working together prior to Hyde County handing down three misdemeanors. Ravnsborg later took a plea deal, agreeing to plead no contest to two charges while a third was dropped.

"He knows the evidence," Schoenbeck said.

Vargo told the Argus Leader that his service to the Legislature comes at the request of Schoenbeck, who reached out to him to see if he would handle the trial.

"It's a simple as that," he said. "I did not lobby for it."

Vargo will not charge the state for his time, though he will be reimbursed for any expenses he incurs conducting the work.

Vargo has declined to talk about why he was not part of Sovell's team when she announced the misdemeanor charges, nor whether he thought more severe charges were merited.

He said Wednesday that as a member of Sovell's prosecution team, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to discuss conversations that took place about what charges Ravnsborg should face.

Ultimately, Sovell and the Beadle County State's Attorney Michael Moore, who also assisted Sovell, didn't think they had enough evidence to charge Ravnsborg with a felony manslaughter charge. And Vargo said he's confident that Sovell felt she made the correct choice.

But Vargo's closeness to the case could raise concerns about a possible conflict. House Speaker Spencer Gosch, who led a nine-member committee that reviewed evidence in the case and ultimately recommended that the attorney general not be impeached, said he stood behind the work that the committee and its lawyer, Sara Frankenstein, did in the case.

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Gosch said he thought it would have been inappropriate for Vargo to be involved in his committee's investigation given his involvement in Ravnsborg's prosecution, though he noted the roles of the Senate and House differ when it comes to the impeachment process.

"I just don't think Vargo is unbiased," said Gosch, a Republican from Glenham.

Vargo said he's unfamiliar with any ethical or political standard that would preclude him from prosecuting the case just because he knows so much about it.

"If there's something specific he's citing, I'd be interested in hearing that," he said.

Schoenbeck brushed aside any concerns over a conflict, saying Vargo knows the facts of the incident.

"This is a political trial. It's not a criminal trial. It's not a civil trial," he said.

All senators will receive copies of the investigative materials from the House by April 26, Schoenbeck said. That will give the senators ample time to review the materials before the trial starts, he added.

The presiding officer of the trial will be Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden, who serves as Senate president.

Ravnsborg has not yet said who he will have tap to lead his defense. His spokesman, Mike Deaver, did not respond to request for comment Wednesday.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Jason Ravnsborg's impeachment trial date, prosecutors selected