SD Supreme Court overturns Berget's death sentence

Jan 03, 2013 -- 1:11pm

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The South Dakota Supreme Court has overturned a state prison inmate's death sentence for the killing of a prison guard nearly two years ago.

 

Justices say Rodney Berget must get a new sentencing hearing because the circuit judge who sentenced him to die improperly considered statements Berget made to a psychiatrist.

 

Berget and another inmate, Eric Robert, pleaded guilty to killing prison guard Ronald Johnson during a failed escape attempt in April 2011 at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Robert was executed by lethal injection last October. Berget appealed his death sentence.

 

A third inmate, Michael Nordman, was given a life sentence for providing materials used in the slaying. 

Return to: Local News Blog

Copyright © KELO-AM. All Rights Reserved. Internet Development by Triton Digital Media.