The Associated Press via The Bismarck Tribune
PIERRE, S.D.— Five convicted murderers face execution in South Dakota, but one of the last added to death row wants to be first to face death by lethal injection.
Forty-nine-year-old Eric Robert pleaded guilty to killing prison guard Ronald Johnson and asked to be executed. But state law still requires the South Dakota Supreme Court to review the case and determine if the sentence is proper.
In a typical death-penalty case, the convict appeals the conviction and sentence, and that can take a decade or more to wind its way through the state and federal appeals systems. Robert’s case is the first time the Supreme Court has dealt with a case in which the convict asked from the start to be executed. Robert’s execution had been set for some time during the week of May 13, but the
Supreme Court has delayed that until it finishes the review required by state law.