FORT PIERRE — Retired Sixth Circuit Judge John Brown presided over the misdemeanor case against South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. Prior to the Thursday morning change-of-plea hearing that took the place of opening statements in a two-day trial that was averted by the plea, Brown cleared the air over procedures in the case. One of the biggest was moving the case to Fort Pierre in Stanley County and not where the charges were filed, in Highmore in Hyde County…
The trial that wasn’t was planned to be a trial of the Court, without a jury…
Brown says he found no relevance to medical evidence Ravnsborg’s defense wished to admit in a possible trial and stated that the law allowed Ravnsborg to not be present during any of the court proceedings against him through the use of Power of Attorney.
