South Dakota murderer Rodney Scott Berget used his last words
before his execution by lethal injection to make a joke about traffic, reported Newsweek.
Berget, 56, was sentenced to death for
killing 63-year-old corrections officer Ronald Johnson in 2011. Berget
beat Johnson to death with a pipe during a failed escape attempt the South
Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls with another inmate.
Berget’s multiple appeals against the death penalty failed
and his sentence was carried out at the South Dakota State Penitentiary on
Monday evening just hours after a final rejection by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Sorry for the delay, I got caught in traffic,” Berget joked
with state officials as he prepared for the lethal injection, Fox News
reported. He also thanked people for their support, mentioning two by
name, and made a peace sign with his hand.
KSFY reported that Berget’s last meal was buttermilk pancakes,
waffles, maple syrup, butter, breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, French fries,
Pepsi, and cherry nibs licorice.
“The execution of
inmate Rodney Berget was carried out this evening in accordance to state
law,” said
a statement from South Dakota’s Secretary of Corrections Denny
Kaemingk.
“South Dakota Codified Law assigns the responsibility for
carrying out the warrant of death sentence and offenders that are sentenced to
death to the Department of Corrections. We take that responsibility very
seriously.
“Director of Prison Operations and Chief Warden Darin Young
and his staff spent extensive time preparing to ensure that the warrant of
death sentence and execution was carried out in a professional, humane and
dignified manner and in accordance to state law.”
Before the murder of Johnson, Berget was already serving
life without parole after a conviction for attempted murder and kidnapping in
2003.
In 2012, Eric Robert, the other inmate convicted of
murdering Johnson, was executed. A third inmate involved in the escape attempt,
Michael Nordman, was sentenced to life in prison for handing the other two a
plastic wrap and the pipe used to kill the officer.
In 2000, Berget’s older brother Roger Berget was executed in
Oklahoma after spending 13 years on death row for murdering a man, The
Argus Leader reported.
To read more CLICK HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment