South Dakota Preps For Rare Execution of Inmate

A South Dakota judge has issued a death warrant for convicted murderer Eric Donald Robert, bringing the state 1 step closer to its 1st execution in more than 5 years.

On Friday, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said the execution is set for the week of Oct. 14. Last week, an appeals court upheld the death penalty conviction of Mr. Robert, who pleaded guilty to killing a prison guard. Mr. Robert had asked for capital punishment for his crime.

An execution is a rare occurrence in South Dakota, where there's been only 1 prisoner killed by the state in the past 65 years and there are just 5 prisoners on death row, including Mr. Robert. The last to be executed was convicted murderer Elijah Page in July, 2007.

What's also unique about Mr. Robert's case is the short time period - just 18 months - between the murder and his execution date. Many death penalty cases take well over a decade to work their way through the courts.

"It is particularly unusual in this case because [we had] all parties essentially agreeing on what the result would be," said Mark Kadi, a lawyer for Mr. Robert.

Mr. Robert is scheduled to die by lethal injection, which replaced electrocution as the state's method for carrying out the death penalty in 1984.

A number of U.S. states have had to recently change their lethal injection procedures amid a nationwide shortfall in the supplies of the drugs used in executions. A campaign by death-penalty opponents that has prompted some manufacturers to abandon production of the drugs for lethal injection purposes.

Source: Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2012

Prison guard killer Eric Robert to be executed in mid-October

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says Judge Bradley Zell has approved his request to schedule a mid-October execution for a State Penitentiary inmate who killed a prison guard.

50-year-old Eric Robert is to be put to death by lethal injection the week of Oct. 14. The exact date and time will be chosen by the prison warden.

Robert pleaded guilty to killing guard Ron Johnson during a failed escape attempt last year and asked to be put to death. The Supreme Court last week unanimously upheld his death sentence.

A 2nd inmate involved in the escape attempt also has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to death, but is appealing. A 3rd inmate was given life in prison.

Source: Associated Press, August 25, 2012

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