By Canadian Press

Judge declines to delay South Dakota execution

Oct 31, 2019 | 3:37 PM

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A judge on Thursday denied a South Dakota inmate’s request to delay his execution over concerns about the drug that the state plans to use.

Charles Rhines, scheduled to die by lethal injection next week in the 1992 stabbing of a 22-year-old doughnut shop worker, argued that pentobarbital does not act quickly enough to comply with state law. He had sought a full trial on his complaint.

But Circuit Judge Jon Sogn wrote in a 23-page order that when the drug is used in lethal doses, it operates “virtually the same” as other drugs that Rhines cited, including thiopental. In fact, Sogn said, pentobarbital may even be faster to induce unconsciousness.

The judge wrote that he also doubted that Rhines’ complaint was intended to change his execution drug to thiopental.

“Instead, the real purpose behind his claim is likely to seek a delay of his execution,” Sogn wrote.

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Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg praised the ruling, saying justice for Rhines’ victim — Donnivan Schaeffer — is long overdue.

“Rhines has had his day in court,” Ravnsborg said. “It is now time for him to serve his sentence.”

The exact date of Rhines’ execution was to be announced 48 hours in advance.

A Montana court ruled in 2015 that pentobarbital was not “ultra-short-acting,” but several other states, including Georgia, Missouri and Texas, use it in executions.

Pentobarbital was used last year when South Dakota executed Rodney Berget, who killed a prison guard during a 2011 escape attempt. Berget was pronounced dead 12 minutes after the lethal injection began, and a transcript released afterward said Berget asked after the injection was administered: “Is it supposed to feel like that?” That prompted a national group that studies capital punishment to call on the state to release more details about the drug used.

Rhines lost two other appeals to delay his execution last week. In those appeals, he argued that he should be able to meet with mental health experts to prepare a clemency application and that the state’s execution policies don’t follow the state’s rule-making requirement.

Rhines stabbed Schaeffer in the skull, stomach and back when Schaeffer interrupted him as Rhines burglarized the doughnut shop where Schaeffer worked. Rhines, who had been fired from the shop three weeks earlier, tied up Schaeffer. According to a police investigator, Rhines rejected Schaeffer’s pleas for mercy.

The Associated Press