The Latest: South Dakota execution waits for court ruling

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 2:24 pm CDT, Monday, October 29, 2018

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The Latest on the planned execution of South Dakota inmate Rodney Berget (all times local):

2:20 p.m.

South Dakota's attorney general says the state is waiting for direction after a lawyer asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution of an inmate who killed a prison guard.

Rodney Berget was scheduled to be put to death at 1:30 p.m. Monday. Attorney General Marty Jackley said after the scheduled execution time had Dakota inmate Rodney Berget (all times local):

2:20 p.m.

Rodney Berget was scheduled to be put to death at 1:30 p.m. Monday. Attorney General Marty Jackley said after the scheduled execution time had passed that he would address reporters once a decision is reached.

Attorney Juliet Yackel says in her U.S. Supreme Court filing that Berget is intellectually disabled. The state Supreme Court earlier denied a motion from Yackel arguing that Berget lacks the intellectual capacity to receive capital punishment. Berget asked that court to dismiss Yackel's petition.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/The-Latest-SD-high-court-rejects-motions-to-stop-13344815.php

[marble falls]

1. Lets join with the most of the world and end the death penalty.

[suegeo]

2. Marty Jackley is so corrupt

That Jack Ass shouldn't stand in judgment of anybody.

The So Dak GOP is SOOOOOO corrupt. South Dakota is a Nazi basket case.

The only good thing outta South Dakota in a long time is their contribution to saving the black Rhinos

[canetoad]

3. His brother was executed

Eighteen years ago in Oklahoma.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/crime/2018/10/28/rodney-berget-executed-18-years-after-his-brother-met-same-fate-south-dakota-death-penalty/1803905002/

Rodney Berget to be executed in South Dakota 18 years after his brother met same fate

Editor's note: This story was originally published on Tuesday, May 29, 2012. It is being republished as Rodney Berget is set to be executed Oct. 29.

Rodney Berget lives in a single cell on South Dakota's death row, rarely leaving the tiny room where he awaits execution for bludgeoning a prison guard to death with a pipe during an attempted escape.

For Berget's immediate family, his fate is familiar. He is the second member of the clan to be sentenced to death. His older brother was convicted in 1987 of killing a man for his car. Roger Berget spent 13 years on Oklahoma's death row until his execution in 2000 at age 39.

The Bergets are not the first pair of siblings to be condemned. In at least three cases, brothers who conspired to commit crimes both have received the death penalty. But these two stand out because their crimes were separated by more than 600 miles and 25 years.

"To have it in different states in different crimes is some sort of commentary on the family there," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks death penalty trends.