October 29
SOUTH DAKOTA:
South Dakota execution delayed for hours past scheduled time
A South Dakota inmate and the family of the prison guard he killed in a failed
escape 7 years ago waited Monday for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether
his execution should be halted, deliberations that delayed Rodney Berget’s
death for at least a few hours past his scheduled execution time.
Berget, 56, is to be put to death for the 2011 slaying of Ronald “R.J.”
Johnson, who was beaten with a pipe and had his head covered in plastic wrap at
the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. It will be the state’s
first execution since 2012 and just its fourth since reinstating the death
penalty in 1979.
Berget was serving a life sentence for attempted murder and kidnapping when he
and inmate Eric Robert attacked Johnson on April 12, 2011 — Johnson’s 63rd
birthday — in a part of the penitentiary known as Pheasantland Industries,
where inmates work on upholstery, signs, furniture and other projects. Berget
has admitted to his role in the slaying.
After Johnson was beaten with a pipe, the two inmates wrapped the guard’s head
in plastic and left him for dead. Robert put on Johnson’s pants, hat and jacket
and pushed a cart loaded with two boxes, one with Berget inside, toward the
exits. They made it through one gate but were stopped by another guard before
they could complete their escape through a second gate.
Robert was executed on Oct. 15, 2012, weeks before the state’s last execution.
Berget’s mental status and death penalty eligibility slowed his case. Berget in
2016 appealed his death sentence, but later asked to withdraw the appeal
against his lawyers’ advice. Berget wrote to a judge saying he thought the
death penalty eventually would be overturned and that he couldn’t imagine
spending “another 30 years in a cage doing a life sentence.”
Gov. Dennis Daugaard has said he had no plans to block the execution. The state
Supreme Court rejected two motions seeking to stop the execution, one filed by
a woman whose son is serving a life sentence and the other by an attorney
without Berget’s support. The attorney later petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court
to stay Berget’s execution, saying that he’s intellectually disabled and
therefore ineligible for the death penalty.
Johnson’s family planned to witness the execution, which was scheduled for 1:30
p.m. but was delayed as the state waited for direction from the Supreme Court.
Berget had a last meal Sunday evening that included pancakes, waffles,
breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, french fries, Pepsi and Cherry Nibs
licorice.
Johnson’s widow, Lynette Johnson, sized down R.J.’s wedding ring and now wears
it next to her own; she keeps his watch — its hands frozen at the time he was
attacked — in a clear case next to photos above her fireplace.
“He was so kind,” she told the Argus Leader . “He didn’t have a bad word to say
about anybody.”
The Department of Corrections has said it plans to use a single drug. Its
policy calls for either sodium thiopental or pentobarbital. Pentobarbital was
used in its last two executions.
South Dakota has not had issues with obtaining the drugs it needs, as some
other states have, perhaps because the state shrouds some details in secrecy.
Lawmakers in 2013 approved hiding the identities of its suppliers.
After the execution, witnesses and others will meet with media at a guard
training academy that was named for Johnson. It was dedicated one year after
his death.
Berget will be the second member of his family to be executed. His older
brother, Roger, was executed in Oklahoma in 2000 for killing a man to steal his
car.
Opponents of the death penalty gathered for a vigil outside the South Dakota
prison, some joining in a circle and singing. Sioux Falls resident Elaine
Engelgau, 62, who sat behind a sign attached to a cross reading: “JESUS: HE
WITHOUT SIN, CAST THE FIRST STONE,” said she was praying that the execution
would be halted.
Scott Johnson told the Argus Leader that he didn’t know R.J. Johnson, but stood
across the street in support of the death penalty. Scott Johnson said a
prisoner in the penitentiary killed his sister and was sentenced to life
without parole.
“I know there’s two sides to everything, but I don’t understand their side at
all,” he said.
(source: Associated Press)
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