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day -- in a part of the prison known as Pheasantland Industries, where inmates work on upholstery, signs, custom furniture and other projects. Prosecutors said after the inmates killed Johnson, Robert put on the guard's uniform and tried to push a large box on a cart containing Berget to the prison gate. The inmates were apprehended before leaving the grounds.
• In his letter, Robert noted that everyone agrees he is mentally competent.
• "Yet, as recently as May 8, 2012, the (South Dakota Supreme Court) was still nosing around this issue. They just can't seem to fathom that a defendant would accept a just fate," he wrote, later adding he has a right to plead guilty and receive the death penalty. "I am free to admit my guilt, as well as acknowledge and accept society's punishment just as I am free to proclaim innocence in defiance of a verdict. I believe that the sentence of death is justly deserved in any murder and should be

carried out."
• Robert said the issue at hand is not about him wanting to die. Instead, it's about the Legislature providing the South Dakota Supreme Court with adequate guidance on how to handle a sentence review when there's no appeal.
• In court briefs recently filed by his lawyer, Robert proposed the Legislature consider changes to the law, allowing death penalty proceedings to be given priority in the state Supreme Court or, absent an appeal, requiring the court to review the case in a set number of days before the execution date.
• The briefs noted the state Supreme Court has reviewed numerous cases, including a civil dispute between actor Kevin Costner and an artist about whether sculptures were appropriately displayed at a Deadwood resort, while Robert's case is still pending.
• The justices noted in their February decision that unless a proper review is done before Robert is killed, the execution could be found unconstitutional under death penalty guidelines established by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• The other inmate who tried to escape, Berget, 50, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, although he is now appealing both his conviction and sentence. A third inmate, Michael Nordman, 47, was given a life sentence for providing the plastic wrap and pipe used in the slaying.
• The penitentiary boosted security after Johnson's death, including adding officers, installing more security cameras and mandating body alarm "panic buttons" for staff.
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