PIERRE, S.D. >> The South Dakota Senate on Tuesday convicted Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg of two impeachment charges stemming from a 2020 car crash in which he killed a pedestrian, immediately removing him and barring him from serving in public office again.

Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher the night of the crash that he might have struck a deer or other large animal, and has said he didn’t know he struck a man — 55-year-old Joseph Boever — until he returned to the scene the next morning. Criminal investigators said they didn’t believe some of Ravnsborg’s statements..

The Republican-controlled Senate voted to convict Ravnsborg, a Republican, of committing crimes that caused someone’s death, and malfeasance for misleading law enforcement and abusing the powers of his office.

Ravnsborg’s face showed little emotion as the vote on the first article of impeachment went down to the final senator’s vote and passed with the minimum needed for conviction. He held his hand over his mouth as he had for much of the trial, then wrote a note on a notepad in his lap.

The convictions required a two-thirds majority. Ravnsborg, who was in his first term, is the first official to be impeached and convicted in South Dakota history. Gov. Kristi Noem, who pushed for Ravnsborg’s impeachment, will appoint his replacement.