South Dakota on Monday executed an inmate convicted of beating a prison guard to death during a failed escape attempt, in the state's first execution in five years, Reuters reports. He was given a lethal injection and pronounced dead at 10:24 p.m. Reuters reported his last words were: "In the name of justice and liberty and mercy I authorize and forgive Warden Douglas Weber to execute me for my crimes. It is done." The state has only had one other execution since 1913, when Elijah Page was put to death in 2007 for murder.
Robert was a former supervisor of a Superior city wastewater crew, the Duluth News Tribune reports. He went to prison in 2005, accused of posing as a police officer and kidnapping an 18-year-old woman and putting her in the trunk of his car. She called police from her cell phone.
Robert received his last meal of ice cream on Sunday night, WDAY reported.
Robert's life story is unlike most others on death row – he at one time had been a model citizen, the Associated Press reports. The AP says he was a good student, put himself through college, had a solid career and was a community volunteer.
