Rodney Berget executed in South Dakota for killing prison guard in failed breakout bid

A convicted killer has been put to death in in South Dakota – but not before cracking a joke in the execution chamber.

Rodney Berget, 56, received a lethal injection for the murder of a prison guard as he tried to escape from prison seven years ago.

Ronald Johnson was battered with a pipe and had his head covered with a plastic wrap during the failed breakout at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

His widow, Lynette, was on hand to witness the execution, the state’s fourth since it reintroduced the death penalty in 1979.

She said her husband had experienced a “cruel and unusual punishment” whereas Berget’s lethal injection was “peaceful” and “sterile.”

Berget arrived a few hours behind schedule to the execution chamber as the U.S. Supreme Court weighed a last-minute legal bid to block it.

In his last words, he joked about the wait, saying “Sorry for the delay, I got caught in traffic.”

He was softly spoken and appeared emotional. He also thanked people for their support and mentioned two by name, according to the New York Post.

“I love you, and I’ll meet you out there,” he said while giving a peace sign with his left hand.

Lawyer Juliet Yackel had sought the stay of execution on the grounds that Berget was intellectually disabled.

Among those who called on the Supreme Court to halt the execution was Timothy Shriver, chairman of the board for Special Olympics International

Berget competed in South Dakota's Special Olympics state games as a boy in the early 1970s, Shriver said.

He was the second member of his family to be executed.

His older brother, Roger, was put to death in Oklahoma in 2000 for murdering a teacher while trying to steal a car.

The other inmate in the failed Sioux Falls escape in 2011, Eric Robert, also pleaded guilty to murder. He was executed in October 2012 before South Dakota halted the practice, temporarily sparing Berget.

At his trial, Berget said: "I believe I deserve the death penalty for what I have done."

"I knew what I was doing, and I continued to do it,” he said.

"I destroyed a family. I took away a father, a husband, a grandpa."

Addressing the media after his death was confirmed, Johnson's daughter, Toni Schafer, spoke about the trauma her family has endured since her father's murder.

"Today was about choices. Berget had choices," Schafer said. "He chose to be evil... to get what he wanted no matter what the cost.

"We choose as a family to be better," she said.