Rodney Berget was executed by the State of South Dakota for the murder of a prison guard during an escape attempt
According to court documents Rodney Berget was attempting to escape from South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. In the process he would beat to death Ronald “R.J.” Johnson to steal his uniform.
Rodney Berget would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Rodney Berget would be executed on October 29 2018 by lethal injection
Rodney Berget brother Robert Berget was executed on June 8 2000 in Oklahoma
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When Was Rodney Berget Executed
Rodney Berget was executed on October 29 2018
Rodney Berget Case
Berget was convicted of attempted first-degree murder in Lawrence County in 2003, for events that occurred in June of that year. In connection with the same events, he was also convicted in Meade County of kidnapping. He received a life sentence for each conviction. As a result, Berget has been confined to the South Dakota State Penitentiary since December 2003.
[¶ 3.] Ronald Johnson worked as a correctional officer at the South Dakota State Penitentiary for over 23 years. On the morning of April 12, 2011, Johnson was working in the Pheasantland Industries building located within the walls of the penitentiary.1 That same day, Berget and Eric Robert, another inmate, attempted to escape from the penitentiary. According to Berget’s sworn testimony from the change of plea hearing, he had been planning this escape since the previous August. Per their plan, in order to effectuate the escape, Berget and Robert needed the uniform of a correctional officer. The pair entered the Pheasantland Industries building in search of a uniformed guard and found Johnson present.
[¶ 4.] At the change of plea hearing, Berget provided the following factual basis:
About August of last year, I came up with a way to try to get out of the penitentiary, but I needed to get a guard’s uniform. So on the 11th of April, I went over to the shop and was going to try to get a uniform, but there was too many people around. So on the 12th of April, I went over to the laundry where I had a pipe and grabbed this pipe and went down to the shop.
When I got down to the shop, I waited around the corner until Officer Johnson came out of the office. And when I seen him come out of the office, I waited until he got in the back of the shop. I came as fast as I could without making any noise, and I started hitting him in the head with my pipe until he went down and he wasn’t moving any longer.
Later, when specifically asked about his intent in hitting Johnson with the pipe, Berget replied: “To end his life.” The attack fractured Johnson’s skull in at least three places. Defense-type injuries were present on Johnson’s hands and arms.
[¶ 5.] After Berget beat Johnson with the pipe, he and Robert wrapped his head in plastic wrap. Robert then donned Johnson’s uniform and Berget climbed into a box placed on a cart. Robert pushed the cart out of the Pheasantland Industries building toward the west gate of the penitentiary. At the gate, correctional officer Jodi Hall noticed that Robert did not swipe an identification badge. She confronted Robert regarding the whereabouts of his badge. When Robert’s explanation did not satisfy her, she asked him to identify himself. He responded that he was “Freeburg.” Still not satisfied, she contacted Corporal Matt Freeburg, a correctional officer also on duty at the gate. Freeburg instructed Hall to call the officer in charge. Presumably realizing that their plot had been discovered, Berget jumped from the box, and he and Robert began assaulting Freeburg. When Hall observed Berget and Robert assaulting Freeburg, she called a “Code Red—Code Three.” Quickly surrounded by responding correctional officers, Berget and Robert surrendered.
[¶ 6.] Recognizing that Robert was wearing a correctional officer’s uniform, penitentiary staff searched the premises. They found Johnson in the Pheasantland Industries building and observed that he had been severely beaten and plastic wrap had been completely wrapped around his head. The officers that found him removed the plastic wrap and began CPR. Lifesaving efforts by the correctional officers, as well as those by responding medical personnel, proved futile.
[¶ 7.] Berget was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, and simple assault on April 26, 2011. On November 17, 2011, against advice of counsel, Berget entered a plea of guilty to the first-degree murder charge. After carefully canvassing Berget and his attorney, the circuit court found that the plea was entered voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly. Based on the submission to the circuit court of a psychiatric evaluation, as well as counsel’s opinion as to Berget’s competency, the circuit court determined Berget competent to proceed.2
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/sd-supreme-court/1619881.html
