JENSEN NOMINATED AND SELECTED FOR SECOND TERM AS CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA SUPREME COURT

PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Supreme Court announced that Justices have selected Chief Justice Steven R. Jensen to a second term as Chief Justice of South Dakota’s highest court.

Chief Justice Jensen was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2017 and was initially selected as Chief Justice by the members of the Court in 2021. He will begin his second, four-year term as Chief Justice on Jan. 6, 2025.

“I am deeply honored that my colleagues have entrusted me with a second term as Chief Justice. Over the past four years, we have worked to ensure that our courts remain fair, accessible and responsive to the needs of all South Dakotans,” Chief Justice Jensen said. “I look forward to continuing this important work as we strive to uphold the rule of law and strengthen public trust in our judiciary.”

Chief Justice Jensen received his undergraduate degree from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., in 1985 and his juris doctor from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1988. He clerked for Justice Richard W. Sabers on the South Dakota Supreme Court before entering private practice in 1989. Chief Justice Jensen was appointed a circuit court judge for the First Judicial Circuit in 2003 and presiding judge in 2011.

“In my view, the court system’s ability to provide a forum for the fair resolution of disputes, and the consistent application of the rule of law, is dependent upon having judges and court staff who perform their duties with excellence,” said Chief Justice Jensen. “The past four years, we have focused on this core function so we can continue to attract and retain talented judges and staff who are well-trained, knowledgeable, hard-working and care about the people they serve.”

Chief Justice Jensen went on to say, “Additionally, as a court system, we have led major initiatives, including the creation of a statewide indigent legal defense system to provide more effective and efficient court-appointed representation in criminal cases, along with founding an access to courts commission to address the challenge of more and more self-represented individuals, in civil cases, who seek redress in the courts. We have also worked to enhance security at courthouses and to develop more focused and effective probation services for young adult offenders. We will continue to work hard to provide a fair and just court system that our citizens can believe in.”

The South Dakota Supreme Court is comprised of five Justices selected by the Governor from five geographic appointment districts. In addition to the Chief Justice, the members of the Court include Justice Janine M. Kern, Justice Mark E. Salter, Justice Patricia J. DeVaney and Justice Scott P. Myren. The Justices face a nonpolitical retention election three years after appointment and every eight years after that. The Justices select the Chief Justice for a four-year term.

 

FORMER SOUTH DAKOTA ATTORNEY GENEERAL FIGHTING SUSPENSION OF HIS IOWA LAW LICENSE

DES MOINES, IA (Clark Kauffman / Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The former attorney general of South Dakota is objecting to a proposed six-month suspension of his Iowa law license due to his involvement in a 2020 traffic fatality.

In September, the South Dakota Supreme Court suspended for six months the South Dakota law license of Jason Ravnsborg, who served as that state’s attorney general from 2019 until his impeachment and removal from office in 2022.

Because Ravnsborg is licensed to practice law in Iowa, he was recently notified that his Iowa license may also be subject to a six-month suspension based on South Dakota’s actions.

Ravnsborg recently filed a written response to that notice, arguing that an identical suspension in Iowa “would be too severe.” In his response, he cites the fact that he was born on an Iowa farm in Cherokee County and later served three military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In his response, Ravnsborg also says he believes that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whom he had been investigating at the time of the fatality, “did everything she could to intimidate, interfere and influence” what he calls “the automobile investigation.” He adds that he still believes “she had to get me, otherwise she would be exposed for her actions.”

Both Noem and Ravnsborg are Republicans.

Ravnsborg also says resigning would have been the easier path for him to take but he opted to remain in office to serve “my client, the state of South Dakota, who repeatedly shows up on lists as one of the most corrupt states.”

Ravnsborg has also informed the Iowa Supreme Court that he is willing to sit before the Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board and answer questions or appear at a hearing before the Iowa Supreme Court. He adds that he believes he should “be given no more than a private reprimand” so he can move forward after four years of dealing with the matter.

The Iowa Supreme Court has yet to issue a decision in the case, but a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2025.

The death of Joe Boever

Court records indicate Ravnsborg graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 2001 and was later admitted to the bar in both South Dakota and Iowa. In 2018, he was elected to serve as South Dakota’s attorney general, and he took office in early 2019.

About 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2020, according to court records, Ravnsborg was driving from a political event in Redfield, South Dakota, to his home in Pierre, South Dakota, when he struck and killed a man, 55-year-old Joe Boever, who was walking on the shoulder of the road near the town of Highmore.

According to court records, Ravnsborg slowly brought his vehicle to a stop and called 911, telling the operator, “I’m the attorney general. And I am – I don’t know – I hit something.” The operator asked whether he had hit “a deer or something,” and he allegedly replied, “I have no idea, yeah, it could be, I mean it was right in the roadway.”

Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek was dispatched to the scene but couldn’t locate anything Ravnsborg struck. Because Ravnsborg’s car was so damaged it could not be driven, Volek then offered Ravnsborg the use of his personal vehicle to complete the drive home to Pierre.

Court records indicate that the next day, Ravnsborg returned to Highmore with his chief of staff to return the sheriff’s vehicle. On the way, they stopped at the site of the crash and found Boever’s body lying just off the side of the road. They then informed Volek of their discovery, and Volek advised Ravnsborg to go back home to Pierre. The sheriff then contacted the South Dakota Highway Patrol and Division of Criminal Investigation.

State officials later revealed that within two days of the accident, Ravnsborg received a text message about Boever from an unnamed consultant saying, “Well, at least the guy was a Democrat.”

When he was interviewed by investigators, Ravnsborg denied having consumed any drugs or alcohol on the night of the accident – which, according to court records, was confirmed by a blood test. Investigators also concluded that excessive speed was not a factor in the accident and while Ravnsborg had been on his phone for some of his commute between Redfield and Highmore, both of his phones were locked at the time of the accident.

Ultimately, investigators concluded Ravnsborg had been driving outside the lane of travel, just off the roadway, when the accident occurred. Ravnsborg pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor offenses — operating a vehicle while using a cell phone and improper lane driving — and a charge of careless driving was dismissed.

Ravnsborg then entered into a confidential civil settlement with Boever’s estate. In June 2022, he was impeached by the South Dakota Senate, removed from office and barred from ever holding public office again in South Dakota.

Board cites lack of apology and condolences

The Disciplinary Board of the State Bar of South Dakota subsequently investigated the matter and recommended a 26-month suspension of Ravnsborg’s law license.

The board noted that in the immediate aftermath of the accident, the South Dakota governor publicly asked Ravnsborg to resign or take a leave of absence, which Ravnsborg refused to do. The board also alleged that when responding to questions by investigators, Ravnsborg “did not appear to be forthright, and (was) only willing to acknowledge certain conduct after being confronted with evidence by the investigators.”

The board also alleged that Ravnsborg frequently identified himself as “the attorney general” when encountering law enforcement for minor traffic violations, such as speeding, running a stop sign, and “when making a 911 call from the highway shortly after killing Joe Boever.”

In its written findings, the board also stated that “Ravnsborg was not sincere in his remarks concerning how badly he felt for Boever’s family and bluntly stated, ‘And I’m going down the road and my life changed,’ and that, ‘I had no idea, to be clear, until the next morning when I found the body and it changed my life forever.’”

The board also noted that from the night of the accident and continuing throughout his service as attorney general, Ravnsborg made no public or private apology, never expressed his condolences to the Boever family, and he never acknowledged any culpability.

Ravnsborg, the board concluded, was more concerned with the “impact of the incident on his political and military careers than the victim, the victim’s family and the public he served.”

Ravnsborg challenged those findings and the matter went before a retired circuit judge to act as “referee” in resolving the dispute.

The referee concluded Ravnsborg had not been dishonest or misleading and that he had conducted himself in a manner befitting of an attorney. He did, however, recommend that Ravnsborg be censored for identifying himself as the attorney general when dealing with the police in order to win “favorable treatment” from officers.

Court settles on six-month suspension

In opting for a six-month law license suspension, the South Dakota Supreme Court stated that “several of Ravnsborg’s statements after the accident raise questions about his honesty and truthfulness.”

The court noted that Ravnsborg had repeatedly denied using his phones during his drive from Redfield to Highmore.

According to the court, the metadata on one of Ravnsborg’s phones showed that “minutes before” he called 911, he had unlocked his phone, checked his Yahoo email account, accessed the Dakota Free Press website, and clicked on a political news article.

It was only after investigators informed him of that evidence, the court said, that “Ravnsborg’s story took another turn” and he admitted “looking at stuff” on his phone before the accident.

“Ravnsborg’s responses demonstrated a concerted effort to avoid criminal liability through dishonesty and misrepresentations,” the court concluded.

The court also made note of Ravnsborg’s decision to “conceal himself from the public eye” in the aftermath of the accident, even while refusing to take a leave of absence. “Each decision he made was influenced by personal aspirations and political survival rather than his responsibility to serve the public and uphold the integrity of his office,” the court stated.

The court also noted two instances of Ravnsborg being stopped for minor traffic offenses – once in Nebraska and once in Iowa — and informing the officers that he was the South Dakota attorney general. In both cases, he was released without a citation being issued, the court stated.

 

PUC REGULATOR STAYS ON NEW CARBON PIPELINE CASE AFTER PRIOR RECUSAL, BUT NO EXPLANATION GIVEN THIS TIME

PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar / South Dakota Searchlight) – A trust controlled by a South Dakota regulator’s relatives still owns land along a proposed pipeline route, but the regulator has not recused herself from the project’s second permit application after recusing herself from the first one.

Two years ago, Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen disqualified herself from Summit Carbon Solutions’ first carbon dioxide pipeline application. She cited state law prohibiting commissioners from participating in hearings or proceedings when they have a conflict of interest.

Fiegen wrote a recusal letter in February 2022 that said the pipeline “would cross land owned by my sister-in-law (my husband’s sister) and her husband.” Gov. Kristi Noem assigned State Treasurer Josh Haeder to fill in for Fiegen.

In September 2023, Haeder and the other two commissioners rejected Summit’s initial application, citing the pipeline route’s conflicts with several county ordinances that mandate minimum distances between pipelines and existing features.

Summit reapplied in November 2024 with an adjusted route. Fiegen has not filed a recusal letter in the new application docket, and she participated in a procedural hearing about the application on Dec. 17.

Fiegen did not respond to questions from South Dakota Searchlight about her participation in the new docket.

Public Utilities Commission spokesperson Leah Mohr said “ex parte” rules bar Fiegen from discussing the matter. Those rules prohibit direct communication with commissioners about dockets they’re considering. Mohr also declined to discuss the matter, and declined to discuss how conflicts of interest are defined for commissioners.

The Attorney General’s Office declined to say whether Fiegen’s participation complies with state law, or whether she sought the office’s legal advice.

Defining a conflict of interest

The chapter of state law Fiegen cited in her 2022 recusal is specific to public utilities commissioners, and it leaves conflicts of interest undefined. It merely says “if a commissioner determines” that the commissioner has a conflict, the commissioner should file a recusal letter.

Meanwhile, a 2016 law required the state Board of Internal Control to create a conflict-of-interest policy for use by state agencies.

The policy says officials involved in quasi-judicial actions such as reviewing a permit application must be “disinterested and free from actual bias or an unacceptable risk of actual bias” and must abstain if “a reasonably-minded person could conclude” they are not impartial.

Land owned by Fiegen’s relatives

The $9 billion Summit pipeline would span five states, transporting some of the CO2 captured from the production processes at 57 ethanol plants to underground injection sites in North Dakota. The project would capitalize on federal tax credits that incentivize the prevention of heat-trapping carbon emissions.

The originally proposed pipeline route would have crossed three parcels of land in Minnehaha County owned by Fiegen’s sister-in-law, Jean Fiegen-Ordal, and Fiegen-Ordal’s husband, Jeffrey Ordal, plus another three parcels of land in McCook County owned by the Jeffrey A. Ordal Living Trust, for which the couple serves as trustees.

Summit said it paid $175,000 in total compensation for easements and future crop damages on the land owned by the Ordals or their trust. An easement is an agreement granting access to land.

Summit said $88,000 of the money went to the Ordals. The company did not disclose further details, but public records show the Ordals completed a sale of their Minnehaha County land several months after signing the easement documents in 2022.

The new pipeline route would cross the same parcels of land: the Minnehaha County land that Fiegen’s relatives no longer own, and the McCook County land that the Ordal trust still owns.

 

MOVE INTO SOUTH DAKOTA BUNKER BACKFIRES ON FAMILY SEEKING A NEW LIFE

IGLOO, S.D. (Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) – David Streeter thought abandoning his traditional life to relocate into a survival bunker in South Dakota would allow his family to retreat from the stresses, expenses and restrictions of the modern world.

The family of three also wanted to be prepared in case an apocalypse of some kind altered the course of mankind and threatened their lives and way of life.

But 18 months after leasing a former Army munitions bunker in the Vivos xPoint residential complex south of Edgemont, the Streeters have had their dreams shattered. And they now find themselves embroiled in a situation that has brought on a level of upheaval, worry and danger they specifically sought to avoid.

“It’s been nothing but a nightmare,” said Streeter, 51. “We just wanted to get away from the rat race and live peacefully, but obviously that hasn’t happened.”

In August, Streeter – an Army veteran who was injured while serving in Bosnia – shot a Vivos contract employee at close range. Streeter said the man had threatened his family and he was defending himself. No charges were filed in that case or in a fatal shooting involving Streeter in Montana in 2010.

Streeter’s daughter witnessed and videotaped the Igloo shooting while his 12-year-old daughter was calling 911 for help. His younger daughter now sometimes cries in her sleep, Streeter said.

Streeter and his wife, Katja, a nurse who works in Hot Springs, were evicted from their bunker and are living in cramped quarters with nine other adults and children in a home with only one shower not far from the Vivos complex.

Streeter and his wife are the plaintiffs or defendants in a handful of lawsuits related to their eviction, the shooting, a protection order request against him and small claims cases.

For now, the Streeters have lost the money paid to lease and build out the Vivos bunker, a tab Streeter estimates is around $300,000. They’ve also spent about $15,000 in legal fees to file or fight several lawsuits.

Streeter said that even after moving out of Vivos, the on-site subcontractor he shot – a convicted felon known to carry guns – frequently parks outside or drives by the house where they now live.

Streeter said he also has been interviewed twice by agents of the FBI, which former Vivos residents said has launched an investigation into the bunker complex and its owner.

The stress of protecting his family, battling for his legal rights, maintaining financial solvency and trying to retain a sense of normalcy has led Streeter to make late-night calls to a veterans’ mental health hotline on four occasions, he said.

“I find myself in a situation where I have to constantly defend my family, and it should never have been that way,” said Streeter, who carries a handgun at all times.

Bunker complex a source of resident unrest

Streeter is not alone in his stress and disappointment on how things have turned out at the bunker complex, but he has become a lightning rod in the effort to hold the owners accountable and push for positive change.

The Vivos xPoint survivalist community was developed in 2016 on the site of the former Black Hills Army Depot munitions storage facility. More than 500 above-ground concrete bunkers are marketed for lease to those who are worried about a potential national or global disaster or who want to live mostly off-the-grid. The site is in a remote area 8 miles south of Edgemont in southwestern South Dakota.

The concrete bunkers, which look like earthen igloos, held military conventional and chemical munitions from 1942 to 1967. The town of Igloo grew up around the depot and was once home to Tom Brokaw, a South Dakota native and former NBC anchor. The base and town are now abandoned.

A four-month News Watch investigation recently revealed that the Vivos complex has been the subject of at least 16 lawsuits or legal filings, five complaints to the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office, and is now part of an inquiry by the FBI.

Vivos is owned and managed by California businessman Robert K. Vicino, who told News Watch that the complex is largely peaceful, well-maintained and has been a financial success.

Vicino also denied allegations of financial impropriety, breaking of contractual obligations or retaliation against people who complained in legal or state documents. He said any unrest present at Vivos is being perpetuated by a small group of disgruntled residents and “bad apples,” including Streeter.

In mid-2023, Streeter sold his home in Montana and leased a bunker at Vivos xPoint to get away from the modern world and test his mettle at building a home inside the bunker and successfully living off the grid.

The relatively low lease cost and monthly and annual fees, when compared to the cost of a traditional home and property taxes, would also allow Streeter and his family to travel internationally, he said.

A man holds a puppy outside of a bunker home in Igloo, South Dakota.

David Streeter hugs a puppy on Oct. 4, 2024, outside the front of a friend’s bunker in the Vivos xPoint complex near Igloo, S.D. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch)

After living for a time in a camper outside, he eventually moved himself, his wife and his daughter into the bunker. Later, he built out the bunker with a sub-floor, walls, and a kitchen, bathroom and TV rooms.

However, it wasn’t long after that problems arose and his expectation of a peaceful life on the South Dakota prairie was shattered.

Streeter’s complaints rejected by Vivos

Streeter began to contact Vivos management with complaints that his septic system at the bunker wasn’t functional and that the tires on his truck had been destroyed by nails and railroad spikes mixed within the road gravel.

In email communications with Vicino, Streeter asked to be compensated for the ruined tires and to have Vivos pay to get the septic system fixed. Streeter also made extensive allegations about how Vivos was being run, how resident money was being spent and warned that he would file in small claims court to be paid if a financial arrangement could not be made.

In an email correspondence from March 30, reviewed by News Watch, Vicino rejected Streeter’s claims that Vivos was responsible for tire or septic system damages.

“So now you are threatening extortion and tort,” Vicino wrote, warning that “I think you are going down the rabbit hole.”

In April, Streeter filed two small claims cases against Vivos xPoint, both of which are pending.

A near-fatal shooting, but no charges filed

After that, Streeter said, Vivos’ on-site contract employees began to frequently drive by his home, sometimes fast and sometimes slowly, give him the middle finger or take pictures or videos of him, his bunker and his family.

Streeter said Vivos contract employee Shear “J.R.” Rodriguez ran him and his wife off the roadway several times within the Vivos complex. Even though Streeter complained to management and law enforcement, the dangerous behavior continued, he said. Streeter said a Fall River County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant told him that officers could not respond because the Vivos complex was on private property.

In August, Streeter said his concerns intensified when his adult daughter and young grandchildren moved onto his bunker property.

On Aug. 23, Streeter said Rodriguez drove at high speeds past Streeter’s bunker. Streeter said he tracked down Rodriguez, pulled him over and reached into his truck and grabbed him by the shirt, warning him to stay away from his family.

A while later, Vivos contract employee Kelly Anderson drove up to Streeter’s bunker on a Caterpillar track loader, which the manufacturer indicates weighs up to 9,000 pounds and has a top speed of 7 mph.

Streeter said Anderson began to threaten Streeter, who pulled his handgun and pointed it at Anderson.

At one point, Streeter said Anderson lunged toward him, and Streeter fired a single shot, striking Anderson in the chest. Fives minutes later, Streeter, a former emergency medical technician, left his yard and began to provide aid to Anderson.

Streeter and another man who arrived on the scene, Chris Yellow Thunder, loaded Anderson into a truck and drove him off the bunker property, where they were met by an ambulance and authorities.

Prior to arriving at Streeter’s property, Anderson sent text messages to Yellow Thunder, who is an acquaintance of both Anderson and Streeter, that he was heading to Streeter’s bunker to confront him.

In the text message, viewed by News Watch, Anderson stated: “I’m about to f— his ass up,” and, “What he did isn’t right and I’m gonna educate this mother f———.”

Months later, according to Fall River State’s Attorney Lance Russell, a grand jury heard testimony and reviewed evidence in the case and decided not to indict Streeter with a crime related to the shooting. Streeter was charged with one count of simple assault for the earlier confrontation with Rodriguez, according to court documents.

Rodriguez could not be reached for comment. Anderson did not return a message left on his voicemail.

David Streeter stands outside the entrance to his bunker in southwestern South Dakota.

Streeter was evicted from his bunker and is being sued in civil court for damages by Anderson. A court overturned the eviction, but Streeter is still unable to legally enter Vivos due to a separate legal filing.

“Vivos promises to do all this vetting, but why do you then hire a known felon who carries guns to work down here?” Streeter said.

Vicino told News Watch that he hopes the state attorney general’s office, despite the grand jury ruling, will eventually charge Streeter with attempted murder.

“There’s no vendetta here, and we had no bone to pick with this guy,” Vicino said. “He has a temperament issue, and that was an egregious act.”

Streeter’s attorney, J. Scott James of Custer, said the relationship between Streeter and Vivos, and its on-site subcontractors, has left Streeter in an almost untenable situation.

“I think Mr. Streeter came here with a lot of hope about how his life would be when he got here, and I think that he’s been frustrated and disappointed by the way his interactions with Vivos have gone, and that he certainly didn’t expect to be in the middle of a shooting match with a (Vivos) employee,” James said.

“He didn’t expect to be fearful for his safety and his life at all times, and has to basically guard himself 24 hours a day to keep everything from being taken from him.”

Hard to back down now, Streeter says

Streeter, by nature, is not one to back away from a fight. He grew up on a ranch in Montana, and his military service in Bosnia and his later work as a federal prison correctional officer, law enforcement officer and certified emergency medical technician are all roles that require some fortitude.

Streeter is also no stranger to using violence to protect his loved ones.

In 2010, he was called to his mother’s home to break up a violent fight between her and Streeter’s stepfather. When his stepfather emerged with a loaded shotgun, Streeter shot and killed him. No charges were filed in that case, according to local press accounts.

When Streeter was evicted, his friend Yellow Thunder immediately opened his house to him, his wife and daughter as well as Streeter’s adult daughter and her four children. The home is one of a handful in the former town of Igloo and sits a couple miles or so from the entrance to Vivos xPoint.

“I don’t trust easy, but Dave and I hit it off the second we met,” Yellow Thunder said. “So when they needed a place to stay, it was never a question that they would come in here, and in fact, I would have been offended if they had gone to a hotel or anywhere else to live.”

Streeter said he is angry over how he and other Vivos residents have been treated. But he is also disappointed that formal complaints made by him and other Vivos residents to local and state authorities have not led to substantive investigations or action.

“It’s like they think, ‘If we don’t see any problems, they’re not there,’” Streeter said. “All we need is for someone to take an interest and do something. All of this has happened down here, and I’ve reported it to every entity I can find, everybody that should have authority over it, and nothing has been done to help me or all these other people being hurt down here.”

Fall River County Sheriff Lyle Norton did not return calls seeking comment, and attorney general’s office spokesman Tony Mangan said there is no ongoing AG investigation into Vivos.

Meanwhile, Streeter said he is waiting for lawsuits he has filed or those filed against him to be resolved before making any plans for the future.

“I don’t like to run from things, and I’m tired of giving in to all this bulls—,” Streeter said. “My wife and my daughter have asked me not to go back down there to Vivos, but what do we do? I’ve got $300,000 into that (bunker), and we’re not a rich family. We put all of our savings into building a home there.”