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00:00The United States of America holds some of the world's most depraved criminals in its prisons.
00:16One of them was Rodney Burgett.
00:19I would call him Satan himself, honestly.
00:22His crimes were horrific.
00:24He traumatized so many lives.
00:27Burgett launched a night of terror with an attack on a former friend.
00:34He started shooting through the door.
00:37Having shot two people, he grabbed a store clerk that was very young, sexually abused her, led law enforcement on a high-speed chase.
00:47Behind bars, Burgett was lethal, teaming up with another inmate for a savage escape attempt.
00:54The box bursts open at the top, and out comes Burgett.
01:01They began hitting him with a two-foot metal pipe and put the shrink wrap around his head.
01:07He was still breathing.
01:09What they did to Officer Johnson, it's so heinous.
01:13The day that dad was killed, that was the start of the destruction of our family.
01:20His eyes, they're like black.
01:22There was no color to him at all.
01:25I think he had nothing good in him.
01:27He chose to be evil.
01:28He chose to be evil.
01:58Holding around 740 inmates, South Dakota State Penitentiary dates back to 1881.
02:08Originally a federal territorial prison.
02:11It's older than the state.
02:12The old prison looks a lot like anything you would see from the movies, like imposing-looking brick walls, towers.
02:21You're in there with murderers, you're in there with rapists, you're in there with abusers.
02:34It's where the most heinous criminals go in the state, where the people who are on death row, who are spending life in prison, will spend their time.
02:53One of the most notorious inmates to make it to South Dakota's death row was Rodney Brighet.
03:00People like Brighet have no regard for human life, that they will risk everything they can to try to get freedom.
03:14There were certain inmates that you would get told to look out for.
03:19Brighet was one of the most dangerous.
03:22He was always planning.
03:23From a young age, Rodney Brighet caused pain and suffering to many people.
03:32The pain and suffering is still alive right now.
03:35Rodney Brighet was born May 15th, 1962, in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
03:51He was the second youngest of Rosemary and Bedford's six children.
03:55My name is Christy Eaton, and I was an Associated Press reporter in South Dakota when this case originally occurred.
04:08Rodney grew up in a poverty-stricken household.
04:11It was not a welcoming household from the court documents that I was able to obtain.
04:17His parents fought often, his dad was a disciplinarian, and so they ended up divorcing in the 1970s.
04:27With their father largely absent from their lives, one of Brighet's older brothers, Roger, started going off the rails and committed burglaries and larceny as a teen.
04:38When we are evaluating children, one of the biggest risk factors that plays into how they're going to develop is their socioeconomic status, which is this kind of survival of the fittest.
04:53I'm either going to end up being a drug dealer or a drug addict.
04:56I'm either going to be a predator or I'm going to be a prey.
05:00Brighet's brother was older, and so maybe he looked at him as a father figure or a mentor.
05:06That can be a very good thing, but if those siblings are leaning on each other without parental guidance and proper nurturance, it can end up leading into the two brothers going off to commit crimes.
05:21This is exactly what happened.
05:26Rodney started getting involved in criminality as a teen.
05:30It was grand theft and larceny that kind of started the spiraling down.
05:37After numerous run-ins with the law, teenage Rodney Brighet was sent to one of South Dakota's state training schools for juvenile offenders.
05:46Back in the 70s, I don't think it was understood very well that juveniles needed a lot more rehabilitation than, say, adult offenders.
06:04It's likely that these juvenile training schools may have been punitive in nature.
06:10He's around other young criminals, and he could be learning the tricks of the trade.
06:15I suspect that these juvenile training schools were not helping him, and in fact, were probably helping him become worse.
06:24Brighet escaped the juvenile facility twice.
06:29Whilst on the run, he would commit grand theft and burglary.
06:34So at the age of 15, Brighet was sent to an adult prison.
06:38The more secure, South Dakota State Penitentiary.
06:43He's in and out of juvenile detention facilities, and then he ultimately ends up in adult prison.
06:49And for him, it's really like going from middle school to high school to college.
06:54This was likely the path that he knew he was going to take from a very early age.
06:58It was normal for him.
07:01But being in an adult prison was still no deterrent for Brighet.
07:05He escaped twice, and in 1984 was given a further 12 years on his sentence for grand theft and escape.
07:21Brighet had been held within the walls of South Dakota Penitentiary for 10 years.
07:26When, age 25, he attempted another escape.
07:35Rodney and several other prisoners put lotion all over their bodies and escaped through an air vent.
07:44The vent led to an auto body shop at the prison.
07:48They had utilized and obtained tools that they were able to cut prison bars to escape.
07:59The gang were heading towards freedom.
08:03There was immediate attention to it whenever you have six inmates escaping.
08:07It was one of the largest escapes in South Dakota state history.
08:15Brighet and the five other inmates spent a month on the run before they were found.
08:20Law enforcement had done an excellent job in rounding up all six of them at various stages.
08:31Brighet was immediately returned to South Dakota Penitentiary.
08:35He was given 10 years in prison for the escape, and a further seven for a burglary he committed while on the run.
08:44Brighet has never really had the mind frame of having anything to lose.
08:49He had so many escapes from prison, and anybody who escapes from prison is somebody who's thinking about short-term gratification.
08:57He's never displayed the ability to think about long-term consequences.
09:05Brighet's older brother and mentor, Roger, had fared no better in his life.
09:18His brother had a similar history with respect to in and out of the system.
09:23They involved things like burglary.
09:25His crimes escalated when, in 1985, he murdered a man in order to steal his car.
09:34Sent to death row, he was eventually executed 13 years later at the age of 39.
09:40At the time, Rodney Brighet was still languishing in South Dakota's state penitentiary.
09:56That had to have been devastating for Brighet.
09:59This was his sidekick, his mentor, from a very early age.
10:03Four years after his brother's death, 39-year-old Rodney Brighet was released on parole.
10:26He had spent just over 24 years in prison.
10:30He returned to his family.
10:33I think he was close to his family.
10:36He was trying to start anew.
10:39He had his first birthday party ever that his sister and brother-in-law threw him.
10:45And so I think it was a time where his family came, rallied behind him,
10:49and were expecting to see a change in his behavior.
10:58Brighet was also making friends.
11:00One of them was 32-year-old Beatrice Miranda, who he had met in a bar.
11:13He was really nice.
11:14He was polite and very respectful.
11:18So that's why I thought, oh, you know, I could be his friend.
11:20He was living in Sioux Falls at the time, and he asked if I wanted to go visit down there.
11:27We had a good time out there, you know.
11:28It was really nice.
11:29Over the following months of their friendship, Brighet began to reveal a more disturbing side to his character.
11:41He would just get angry out of nowhere, just sitting there watching TV, and all of a sudden, he would just burst like, you know, what happened?
11:51I would just sit there and just, I didn't know what he was capable of.
11:59And then he would just pace back and forth.
12:02I was trying to find a reason to get back home somehow.
12:10Beatrice persuaded Brighet to drive her back to her hometown.
12:14We came on the pretense that I just wanted to come visit my sister.
12:19We got here.
12:20I was like, no, I'm not going back with you.
12:22And, oh, my gosh, that was something else.
12:26I mean, he made a big scene outside my sister's place, and my sister had to go out there and tell him to leave.
12:33So I thought that was, that was it.
12:37And I wouldn't hear from him ever again.
12:38A week passed, and with no contact from Brighet, Beatrice believed he was now gone from her life.
12:53At the time, Beatrice was living with her five children, their ages ranging from five to sixteen years old.
13:03Then, out of nowhere, Brighet turned up at her home.
13:08One day I was at work, and my kids were at the apartment, and they said he was in my house.
13:15By the time I got to the house, he was already gone.
13:19And so that's when I called the police and let them know what was going on.
13:28The very next night, Beatrice was at home with her family, as well as her friend and housemate, Brian Horstman.
13:38Beatrice had just put her youngest children to bed, when the peace was shattered.
13:48I just started kicking.
13:51Outside was Brighet, trying to force his way into the house.
13:55Really good, sturdy, steel door, so he couldn't do it.
13:59He could feel the whole porch shaking, and Brian jumps up.
14:02Brian headed to the door to find Brighet with a gun.
14:10He shot at him through the door's window.
14:12Brian collapsed to the floor.
14:15Beatrice ran to the bedroom where she had a gun.
14:18By the time I turned around with the gun, he was already at my bedroom doorway.
14:26So I just started shooting, and I don't know what happened, but I just remember, like, getting up off the floor.
14:33When Beatrice fired, the gun's recoil had struck her in the head, knocking her over.
14:39She had only grazed Brighet, but it was enough to have frightened him off.
14:45Brighet fled the house.
14:50I saw Brian in the kitchen on the floor, and my kids were all, like, trying to help him.
14:56They were so scared.
14:58That was the worst thing I've ever been through in my life.
15:01Brian had been shot in the stomach.
15:04Beatrice's kids dialed 911.
15:06Then Beatrice suddenly felt a pain in her back.
15:12I asked my son, what is that?
15:14It's burning, you know.
15:16I had my son check, and he goes, oh my God, you know, you've been here.
15:22Beatrice and Brian were rushed to the hospital,
15:26whilst Brighet headed back across state in a stolen car.
15:30He traveled from Lawrence County to Sturgis to a gas station.
15:42He took the store clerk against her will.
15:46Held her at gunpoint.
15:52He raped her in the bathroom, and then forced her in the car with him and took her.
15:59A customer at the gas station entered the empty shop,
16:03and found it suspicious nobody was around.
16:07They called the cops, looked at the cameras, and they spotted the outback.
16:13Police patrol units were alerted to Brighet's stolen vehicle.
16:19It was a high-speed pursuit.
16:25It went over 100 miles to Midland, South Dakota.
16:28A highway patrol trooper managed to get ahead of Brighet's vehicle and deploy spike strips.
16:41Puncturing three of his tires and slowing him dramatically.
16:46The kidnapped store clerk took her chance.
16:52She jumped out of the car while he was driving.
16:54Law enforcement was able to protect and remove the clerk from the situation.
17:03Brighet came to a halt in a field, and a police standoff followed.
17:09He sat there with the gun to his head.
17:12We had an eight-hour standoff with him.
17:16But finally he gave up.
17:20Ultimately, Rodney did surrender peacefully.
17:24But many lives were changed because of that incident.
17:30There's a part of me that thinks this wasn't his first sexual assault.
17:33He was so brazen.
17:36If you look at the pattern of behavior, it makes sense for somebody like Brighet.
17:42He was obsessed with this woman.
17:44She rejected him.
17:46He then shoots her roommate because he was in the way.
17:49And now he's mad.
17:51Because we have to remember that sexual assault is not driven by sexual desire.
17:56It's driven by anger, rage, and power and control.
18:00I'm not in control.
18:01I didn't get what I wanted.
18:03So I'm going to take that out on somebody else.
18:05At the hospital, there was good news for Beatrice and her roommate, Brian, who had been wounded in Brighet's attack.
18:14When the doctors saw me, thank God it was only a ricochet bullet because it was right on my spine.
18:23They're like, you're going to be fine.
18:24Brian spent about a week or so in the hospital.
18:28I honestly thought that he wasn't going to make it because he had lost a lot of blood.
18:33I think it was like the second day when I knew he was going to be okay.
18:36I felt so guilty, you know.
18:37I brought that there and until this day I still feel bad, you know, because he didn't have to go through that.
18:48After his rampage, Rodney Burgett cut a deal with prosecutors.
18:53If he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping, they would drop the five other charges,
18:59which included one count of attempted murder, first-degree burglary, and rape.
19:04On December 2nd, 2003, he was sentenced to life in prison.
19:13I was so relieved.
19:15But yet, you know, I was still hesitant because I knew he, you know, he had escaped from there already.
19:21So I was, yeah, I was glad, but I didn't know how long he was going to be in there.
19:26I always was afraid that he was going to come back after me because I knew he was going to escape.
19:37I knew he was.
19:44Rodney Burgett was back inside South Dakota State Penitentiary.
19:48Former Corrections Corporal, Matt Freeberg, was there at the time and aware of this inmate's reputation.
20:08Burgett's name had been brought up as one of the ones that previously had successfully escaped.
20:14He definitely had kind of that inmate appearance to him.
20:19He had kind of a ratty ponytail.
20:24Burgett was about average height.
20:27His build was, I would say, on the smaller side.
20:30Like, if you did stop long enough and look him in the eyes,
20:33they did kind of just have this evil look, maybe a hollow look.
20:38He didn't speak a whole lot.
20:44In 2006, a new inmate arrived at South Dakota State Penitentiary.
20:57Eric Robert was starting an 80-year sentence for impersonating a police officer
21:02in the attempted rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl.
21:06Eric Robert was aware of Burgett's escape attempts and immediately latched onto him.
21:12I believe it was a friendship of necessity because Eric Robert wanted out by any means necessary,
21:19and Rodney Burgett was his way of reaching that goal.
21:26That attitude on his end and Burgett having previously escaped, you know,
21:33thinking, you know, we can do this again, probably helped them forge their partnership.
21:37Burgett and Robert started devising an escape plan.
21:45It was going to take time, maybe years to execute, but they were in it for the long haul.
21:51The first thing they needed were prison jobs so they could move around the facility.
21:56Inmates can have all sorts of jobs in prison.
22:01They help keep the prison and the prison grounds clean.
22:04There are landscaping jobs.
22:06There are trades within the prison, such as making license plates or making prison uniforms.
22:11And the reason it's beneficial for inmates is, number one, it keeps them busy.
22:15And, number two, there's a selfish need that's met on behalf of the prison because it's free or very cheap labor.
22:23Also, there's some evidence when inmates are being kept busy, the violence in the prison tends to go down, which makes sense.
22:30But Burgett and Robert wouldn't be allowed jobs until they proved they were less of a security risk.
22:41Behaving yourself, trying to have a clean record for months, maybe even years, however long it took.
22:48After five years of good behavior, Burgett and Robert were trusted enough to be given jobs in the prison laundry system.
22:56And they'd got the job they wanted, which gave them almost unlimited access to scout around.
23:05They can go to everybody's cell anywhere in the facility to grab their laundry bags, get down routines and times and what happens at what time.
23:17Burgett and Robert moved to the next stage of their escape plan.
23:20Robert had previously impersonated a police officer.
23:27He was now aiming to impersonate a correctional officer.
23:32In a bid to break out of the prison grounds.
23:37So, contrary to Burgett, inmate Robert looked very clean-shaven.
23:45He didn't have any visible tattoos.
23:47Very much could look the part of a person in uniform if he wanted to.
23:56The two inmates knew they needed to get the uniform of a guard any way possible.
24:05One officer who worked at the state penitentiary was 62-year-old Ronald Johnson.
24:11He had dedicated nearly 24 years of his life to the job.
24:17At work, they gave him the nickname of R.J.
24:24I am Lynette K. Johnson, and I am his wife.
24:29We have been married 46 years.
24:31Ronald met Lynette in the spring of 1977, when they went on a date after being set up by a mutual friend.
24:41We had both been divorced.
24:48Didn't really trust guys at the time.
24:55That didn't go so well the first night, so I thought, well, I don't have nothing to worry about there.
24:59But guess what?
25:00He was on the phone the next day, and we weren't a part after that.
25:04Together ever.
25:04My dad was calm, quiet, invested in his family.
25:16He was the dad that was always there, the papa that was always there.
25:25He was kind of a man of few words when it came to a lot of situations, but he had enjoyed his job just because he liked being around people.
25:34And Ron respected some of those inmates there, most of them, and he would always say, oh, they're nice.
25:46I said, yeah.
25:48Built that big house up on the hill just for all the nice people to be.
25:57I was like, yuck.
25:59Why would you want to work at the penitentiary?
26:01And I just was like, no, that's where the bad guys go.
26:06And he'd say, they might have had just one bad day.
26:09You know, it's just a good guy who had a bad day, and now here he is.
26:18He always gave everybody a chance, no matter what they did in life.
26:21And I wouldn't say forgave them, but understood their situation.
26:28Ronald, R.J. Johnson, everybody loved working with him.
26:34One of the rare guys that even the inmates had a lot of respect for.
26:38But not Robert and Baguette.
26:45R.J. would be seen as a disposable tool and their ticket to freedom.
26:56Ronald Johnson arrived at the prison to start a day shift.
27:00He was originally meant to have the day off, as it was his 63rd birthday.
27:05They had somebody call in sick, and they called in the morning and asked him to come in.
27:14And he said yes.
27:15He'd always kiss me goodbye, and then I gave him a big hug and gave him another kiss.
27:28And I said, happy birthday.
27:30And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:32And he'd, you know, always stick his tongue out.
27:35Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:36Ignore my birthday.
27:38And then he went out to work.
27:42For Baguette and Robert, today would be their escape day.
27:56On the pretense of doing laundry duties,
28:00Rodney Baguette and Eric Robert headed to a back room in the prison workshop.
28:05They met a fellow inmate to retrieve a couple of items they had pre-ordered.
28:10In the weeks before the actual event, they had contacted Nordman, another lifer.
28:18They had obtained from Nordman the pipe and the shrink wrap.
28:23Baguette and Robert were now armed and ready to execute their escape plan.
28:28Step one, to obtain a corrections officer's uniform.
28:31They hid in a workshop and laid in wait for an officer to come through.
28:38That officer was Ronald Johnson.
28:42He was just simply doing the job of a correction officer.
28:48He was doing his rounds.
28:52And they jumped him.
28:54It was horrific, but he never stopped fighting.
29:05The defensive wounds that he had on his hands,
29:07he was doing everything he could to try to survive that attack.
29:14Ronald Johnson was overwhelmed.
29:16Robert and Baguette continued their barbaric assault,
29:20covering his head with a plastic wrap.
29:24They utilized the plastic wrap for two reasons.
29:28One, to muffle sounds so that they wouldn't be discovered.
29:32And the other is a suffocation method.
29:34That they had every intent to commit that murder.
29:38They needed the uniform.
29:40As he tried to fight back with shrink wrap around his head,
29:44and they kept hitting him with that pipe.
29:49What they did to Officer Johnson,
29:52it's so heinous, really horrific,
29:57and completely unnecessary.
30:01Once they had brought R.J. Johnson down,
30:05they removed his uniform.
30:07Robert put on his uniform to try to look like a correction officer.
30:11They left Ronald's brown officer's shirt behind,
30:16as it had too much blood on it.
30:20They then took a cart with a box.
30:23Birgit hid in the box,
30:25because they only had one uniform.
30:26And Robert then pushed the cart out,
30:29and they headed straight to get to the outside of the prison.
30:37Corrections Corporal Matt Freeberg
30:39was also on duty that day.
30:41Matt was at the prison gates,
30:44checking a food truck that was entering the prison.
30:50As soon as it clears,
30:52here comes an officer
30:53pushing a flat cart with a box on it.
30:57And so it's like,
30:58all right, you know, like,
31:00just leave the gate open,
31:01and we'll wait,
31:01and we'll go out together.
31:03And the tower officer closes
31:04the inner gate.
31:07Matt doesn't recognize
31:08the officer in front of him,
31:10and before he signals the outer gate
31:13to be open for them,
31:14he notices they haven't followed procedure.
31:21I look at the officer,
31:23and I said,
31:24you didn't swipe your badge.
31:26He says he forgot it at home.
31:29That's not uncommon.
31:30You know, people leave stuff at home all the time.
31:33And as we're talking,
31:35I'm kind of looking at him up and down.
31:38He's got uniform pants,
31:41uniform jacket,
31:42and a white T-shirt.
31:44I cannot see his brown officer's shirt.
31:48And so I'm like,
31:48where's your uniform shirt at?
31:50And he's like,
31:51it's on there.
31:52It's under my jacket.
31:53It's there.
31:53Don't worry about it.
31:55When I try and push his coat aside
31:57to see if that brown shirt is on there,
31:59he takes,
32:00he moves back.
32:02And he's just like,
32:03it's under there.
32:03Don't worry about it.
32:04I told you.
32:05And it's like,
32:05okay,
32:05you're really ballsy for a new person
32:08to somebody who outranks you.
32:11With suspicions raised,
32:13Matt contacted the control tower
32:15to request verification
32:17of the mystery officer
32:18when something else caught his attention.
32:23I hear some noise,
32:26and I look over at the cart,
32:28and the box is moving.
32:30It's starting to shake.
32:31Bursts open at the top,
32:33and out comes Brigette.
32:35While I'm looking at him come out,
32:37I get struck across the face from Robert.
32:40And so we start to fight.
32:44Brigette,
32:45and he still had RJ's radio,
32:47and he proceeds to strike me
32:49multiple times
32:50in the back of the head.
32:56During the struggle,
32:58Robert made a break for it
32:59and started climbing the outer gate.
33:03But officers in the tower
33:04had already called a code red
33:06over the radio.
33:10Once Robert was up on the fence,
33:13and it was just me and Brigette,
33:15I had taken the upper hand,
33:17and I had gotten on top of him,
33:18and basically the cavalry
33:20had arrived now.
33:21I get picked up
33:22and lifted off of this guy.
33:25But then Robert jumps off the fence,
33:28and Robert and Brigette
33:30looked at each other,
33:31and they shook hands.
33:35And then they basically gave up.
33:40They were very close to getting out.
33:44I certainly believe that.
33:45If you look at their criminal history,
33:47these individuals had no regard
33:50for people and human life.
33:52I believe if they would have crossed
33:54a civilian in the process
33:56of furthering the escape,
33:58that they would have done harm
33:59to that individual.
34:01I credit the excellent work
34:03of Freeburg
34:03and the correction officers
34:05to foil their escape attempt.
34:09Most of my injuries
34:10were facial bruising
34:12and abrasions.
34:15You're just kind of thinking
34:16during this whole time
34:17trying to process this.
34:18How close did you come,
34:20potentially,
34:21to being severely hurt or killed?
34:23In the aftermath
34:29of the confrontation
34:30at the gate
34:31came a chilling realization.
34:35This uniform came from someone.
34:37Someone was wearing it
34:38that isn't wearing it anymore,
34:40and we've got to go find
34:41who that uniform belonged to.
34:44A search of the prison
34:46brought the grim discovery
34:48of Ronald Johnson
34:49lying motionless.
34:51R.J. Johnson's skull
34:57was fractured
34:57in three places,
34:59and parts of his brain
35:01were exposed.
35:02He was hurt so badly.
35:08Remarkably,
35:09Ronald Johnson
35:10was still clinging
35:11by a thread to life
35:12and was rushed
35:13to the hospital.
35:17As fate would have it,
35:19his daughter,
35:19Tony,
35:20an anesthesia nurse,
35:22was working there
35:23at the time.
35:25As the trauma bay door
35:27from the ambulance
35:28opened,
35:30and he was coming in,
35:31and I'm like,
35:32that's my dad.
35:35He had a towel
35:36over his head,
35:37and there was nothing
35:39on the monitors,
35:40and his color,
35:42I knew,
35:43was off.
35:43And when I put
35:49my left hand
35:50on his arm,
35:50I knew it was cold.
35:52And one of my coworkers
35:53said,
35:54Tony,
35:54I'm going to take over.
35:56And I said,
35:57I go,
35:57Dad,
35:58you're going to be fine.
36:01I told him he'd be fine
36:02when I knew he wasn't.
36:05Tony called her brother,
36:15who was driving to work.
36:18I had gotten a phone call
36:19from my sister,
36:22and my sister said,
36:24Dad was in an accident,
36:26got in a fight at work.
36:28She didn't know
36:28much more information,
36:30but it didn't sound good.
36:31At that time,
36:32I turned around,
36:33started coming
36:34towards Sioux Falls.
36:38It was going
36:39to take Jesse
36:40over two hours
36:41to get to the hospital.
36:43Meanwhile,
36:44RJ's wife, Lynette,
36:46had just arrived.
36:48A short time later,
36:50they were given
36:51the news
36:51they didn't want to hear.
36:55The physician came in,
36:57Dr. Peary walked in,
36:58and he said,
36:59Tony, I'm so sorry.
37:02And then my mom
37:03was standing there.
37:07And she hit me
37:08and sat on the chest,
37:10and she said,
37:11you need to get in there
37:12and fix this.
37:13You need to fix him.
37:21They came in,
37:22and they told us,
37:23I'm so angry,
37:24and I just needed
37:25to get back there.
37:28He was laying on the table.
37:30They had a towel
37:35over his head,
37:37and I thought
37:37he was cold.
37:38That's why they had
37:39that towel on his head.
37:40I didn't realize that.
37:42He didn't tap
37:43the back of his head.
37:44I didn't know that.
37:47She laid on his belly
37:48and was looking
37:50for his hands,
37:51and they told her
37:53she couldn't touch him
37:54because he was
37:55a crime scene.
37:56And when they said that,
38:01I just remember thinking,
38:03how can you make him
38:04a crime scene?
38:05Like, but I don't get that.
38:06Like, she wants
38:08to hold her husband
38:09just one more time.
38:10about 20 minutes
38:21into the drive,
38:22my mom had called
38:23and said,
38:24Dad has passed.
38:25You don't need to speed.
38:26You don't have to get here
38:27right away.
38:28Just drive safe.
38:29And at that point,
38:31you know,
38:32the guilt
38:33of living in Yankton,
38:36so far away from him
38:37because we got to
38:37spend weekends together,
38:38but not necessarily
38:39any time during the week
38:40kind of came over me.
38:43I went from a day
38:44from working
38:45to getting a phone call
38:48that changed my whole life.
38:51In the following days,
38:53the family
38:54and the outside world
38:55learned the full details
38:58of what had happened
38:59at the South Dakota
39:00State Penitentiary.
39:03When I found out
39:04that inmates did this,
39:07there wasn't an inmate
39:08in that building
39:09that didn't like Ron.
39:17I've covered
39:18some horrible crimes before,
39:23but this one
39:24was definitely
39:25one of the worst
39:26I'd heard about.
39:27Robert and Burgett
39:33have no regard
39:34for human life.
39:35And the fact that
39:36they were cowards
39:38with a pipe
39:38and took two of them
39:40to do what they did
39:42when, as a man,
39:43you could probably
39:43take care of them yourself.
39:49I was the lead prosecutor
39:50on both the Burgett
39:52and the Robert cases.
39:53South Dakota
39:55Attorney General
39:56Marty Jackley
39:57wanted to pursue
39:59the death penalty
40:00for both Robert
40:01and Burgett.
40:03The evidence showed
40:04they had every intention
40:05to murder
40:06that correction officer
40:07in a very inhumane way.
40:10It was horrific,
40:12but the evidence showed
40:13he never stopped fighting.
40:14The defensive wounds
40:15that he had
40:16on his hands,
40:17he was doing
40:17everything he could
40:18to try to survive
40:20that attack.
40:21Burgett and Robert
40:30both were serving
40:32life sentences.
40:33In my mind,
40:34they were not going
40:35to stop harming people
40:36and that the only way
40:38to protect other inmates,
40:40correction officers,
40:41and medical staff
40:42at the prison
40:42was a capital sentence.
40:46In two separate hearings,
40:48both Eric Robert
40:49and Rodney Burgett
40:51pleaded guilty
40:52to first-degree murder.
40:54Both were sentenced
40:56to death.
40:59Eric Robert
41:00wanted to get out
41:02of prison
41:02or die trying,
41:04and he
41:05ended up
41:06not appealing
41:07the death sentence,
41:09not appealing
41:10his conviction.
41:11So he was put to death
41:13fairly quickly
41:14by most standards.
41:16On October 15, 2012,
41:22a year and a half
41:23after Ronald Johnson's murder,
41:25Robert was executed
41:26by lethal injection.
41:29In contrast,
41:31Rodney Burgett
41:31continually appealed
41:33his death sentence.
41:35He never apologized.
41:36He was trying
41:37to draw out the process.
41:38It's just his evil ways,
41:40I feel
41:41to continue
41:43to torture us.
41:47I never believed
41:49in the death penalty.
41:50I was always outspoken
41:51about it,
41:51but I figure
41:52I want the inmate
41:53to get what they don't want.
41:56Eric Robert,
41:56he wanted to die.
41:57I wanted him
41:58to have to sit there
41:59for the rest of his life.
42:03I wanted Burgett
42:04to be put to death.
42:07Some people
42:08don't have a soul.
42:09Rodney Burgett
42:13eventually decided
42:14to withdraw
42:15his appeal
42:16against his death sentence
42:17and on October 29,
42:202018,
42:21he was executed
42:22by lethal injection.
42:24Ronald Johnson's family
42:26were there
42:27to witness it.
42:30Burgett just sat there
42:32very cold,
42:33very emotionless.
42:36He was just looking
42:37at the ceiling basically.
42:40Even right before
42:41he takes his last breath,
42:43he does not express remorse.
42:45He does not say sorry.
42:47He does not apologize.
42:48I don't think Burgett
42:49was capable of remorse.
42:54He said he loved
42:55a few people
42:56and then
42:57he went to sleep.
42:59He just snored
42:59and it was done.
43:04Clean.
43:06Painless.
43:08I wish Ron
43:08could have had that death.
43:18When he was sentenced
43:19to death,
43:20I was ecstatic.
43:21I was really ecstatic
43:22because then
43:22I didn't have to worry
43:23about, you know,
43:24hiding behind my curtains
43:25and in my locked doors
43:27and I should have killed him.
43:31Ron would still be alive.
43:34RJ's horrific death
43:35had a massive impact
43:37on both staff
43:38and inmates
43:39at the prison.
43:40There is a building
43:41at the prison
43:42named after RJ
43:43and I think
43:44that's the legacy
43:45I hope he's remembered for.
43:46His family
43:46and the impact
43:48he had
43:49not just on
43:50other correction officers
43:51but the inmates
43:52that cared for him.
43:55April 12th,
43:56each year,
43:58Ronald Johnson's family
43:59celebrate his birthday
44:00and commemorate
44:02the day he died.
44:05I light a candle
44:06the hour
44:08from 10 to 11
44:09and then I go up
44:11to the cemetery
44:11and I let balloons
44:13off here
44:14and then I let balloons
44:15off there.
44:16But mom and dad,
44:21their relationship
44:22was something special.
44:24Not many people
44:24get to have
44:25but everybody wants it.
44:29But Burgett,
44:31I think he had
44:32nothing good in him
44:33to look forward to.
44:37Burgett,
44:38his crimes were horrific.
44:40He traumatized
44:41and disrupted
44:42so many lives.
44:44In a nutshell,
44:44I would say that Burgett
44:46is absolutely
44:47an evil human being.
44:53Burgett is absolutely
44:54an evil human being.
44:56Burgett is absolutely
44:58an evil human being.
45:00A happy human being.
45:01A happy human being.
45:02A savior of the world
45:03looks like this.
45:15Those had a not to be
45:17a nation.
45:17A happy human being.
45:18All ofắn across the LA
45:20are butter on the way,
45:21let's fight to.
45:22You
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