Sup. Court Denies Berget Rehearing Request
by Associated Press
February 13, 2013 4:42 PM
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says the South Dakota Supreme Court has denied a request to rehear arguments in the case of a man who helped kill a guard at the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
The ruling clears the way for the 2nd Judicial Circuit to schedule a resentencing hearing for Rodney Berget, whose death sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court last month. The justices had ruled that the circuit judge improperly considered a statement Berget made to a psychiatrist.
The high court weighed 12 issues raised by Berget's lawyer and ruled in the state's favor in 11 of them.
Berget and another inmate, Eric Robert, pleaded guilty to killing guard Ronald Johnson during a failed escape attempt in April 2011. Robert was executed last October.
