00:00:04
[ominous music] NARRATOR: The United
States of America holds some of the world's
most depraved criminals
00:00:14
in its prisons. One of them was Rodney Berget. - I would call him
Satan himself, honestly.
00:00:22
DR. LINA HAJI: His
crimes were horrific. He traumatized so many lives. NARRATOR: Berget launched
a night of terror
00:00:31
with an attack
on a former friend. - He started shooting
through the door. MARTY JACKLEY: Having
shot two people,
00:00:38
he grabbed a store clerk
that was very young, sexually abused her,
led law enforcement
00:00:44
on a high-speed chase. NARRATOR: Behind
bars, Berget was lethal, teaming up
with another inmate
00:00:52
for a savage escape attempt. - The box bursts open at the
top and out comes Berget.
00:01:00
MARTY JACKLEY: They
began hitting him with a two-foot metal pipe
and put the shrink wrap
00:01:05
around his head. - He was still breathing. DR. LINA HAJI: What they
did to Officer Johnson,
00:01:11
it's so heinous. TONI SCHAFER:
The day that Dad was killed, that was the start of
the destruction of our family.
00:01:20
BEATRICE MIRANDA: His
eyes are like, black. There was no color
to him at all. TONI SCHAFER: I think he
had nothing good in him.
00:01:27
He chose to be evil. [theme music] NARRATOR: Holding
around 740 inmates, South Dakota State Penitentiary
dates back to 1881.
00:02:08
MATTHEW FREEBURG: Originally
a federal territorial prison, it's older than the state.
00:02:12
The old prison looks
a lot like anything you would see from
the movies, like, imposing
00:02:18
looking brick walls, towers. [tense music] You're in there with murderers. You're in there with rapists.
00:02:32
You're in there with abusers. KRISTI EATON: It's where
the most heinous criminals
00:02:45
go in the state,
where the people who are on death row, who are
spending life in prison
00:02:52
will spend their time. NARRATOR: One of the most
notorious inmates to make it to South Dakota's
death row was Rodney Berget.
00:03:07
JESSE JOHNSON:
People like Berget have no regard for human
life, that they will risk everything they
can to try to get freedom.
00:03:15
MATTHEW FREEBURG: There were
certain inmates that you would get told to look out for.
00:03:19
Berget was one
of the most dangerous. He was always planning. KRISTI EATON: From a young
age, Rodney Berget caused pain
00:03:30
and suffering to many people. And the pain and suffering
is still alive right now.
00:03:40
[intriguing music] NARRATOR: Rodney Scott
Berget was born May 15, 1962, in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
00:03:51
He was the second
youngest of Rosemary and Bedford's six children. KRISTI EATON: My name
is Kristi Eaton,
00:04:02
and I was an Associated Press
reporter in South Dakota when this case originally occurred.
00:04:07
Rodney grew up in a
poverty-stricken household. It was not
a welcoming household,
00:04:14
from the court documents
that I was able to obtain. His parents fought often. His dad was a disciplinarian,
and so they ended
00:04:23
up divorcing in the 1970s. NARRATOR: With
their father largely absent from their lives, one of
Berget's older brothers, Roger,
00:04:34
started going off the rails
and committed burglaries and larceny as a teen. DR. LINA HAJI: When we
are evaluating children,
00:04:42
one of the biggest
risk factors that plays into how they're
going to develop is their socioeconomic
status, which is this kind
00:04:52
of survival of the fittest. I'm either going
to end up being a drug dealer or a drug addict.
00:04:56
I'm either going
to be a predator or I'm going to be a prey. Berget's brother was
older, and so maybe he
00:05:03
looked at him as a father
figure or a mentor. That can be a very good thing. But if those siblings
are leaning on each other
00:05:11
without parental guidance
and proper nurturance, it can end up leading
into the two brothers
00:05:18
going off to commit crimes. NARRATOR: This is
exactly what happened. KRISTI EATON: Rodney
started getting involved
00:05:27
in criminality as a teen. It was grand theft
and larceny, that kind of started the spiraling down.
00:05:37
NARRATOR: After numerous
run-ins with the law, teenage Rodney Berget
was sent to one
00:05:42
of South Dakota's
state training schools for juvenile offenders. - Back in the 70s, I don't
think it was understood very
00:05:54
well that juveniles needed
a lot more rehabilitation than, say, adult offenders.
00:06:01
[intriguing music] It's likely that these
juvenile training schools may have been punitive in nature.
00:06:10
He's around other
young criminals and he could be learning
the tricks of the trade.
00:06:15
I suspect that these juvenile
training schools were not helping him and,
in fact, were probably
00:06:20
helping him become worse. NARRATOR: Berget escaped
the juvenile facility twice. Whilst on the run,
he would commit
00:06:31
grand theft and burglary. So at the age of 15, Berget
was sent to an adult prison.
00:06:39
The more secure, South
Dakota State Penitentiary. DR. LINA HAJI: He's in and out
of juvenile detention
00:06:45
facilities, and then
he ultimately ends up in adult prison. And for him, it's really
like going from middle school
00:06:52
to high school to college. This was likely the path
that he knew he was going to take from a very early age.
00:06:58
It was normal for him. NARRATOR: But being
in an adult prison was still no
deterrent for Berget.
00:07:05
He escaped twice,
and in 1984 was given a further 12
years on his sentence for grand theft and escape.
00:07:17
[intriguing music] NARRATOR: Berget had been
held within the walls of South Dakota
penitentiary for 10 years.
00:07:27
When age 25, he
attempted another escape. KRISTI EATON: Rodney
and several other prisoners
00:07:38
put lotion all
over their bodies and escaped through
an air vent. NARRATOR: The vent led to an
auto body shop at the prison.
00:07:49
MARTY JACKLEY: They
had utilized and obtained tools that they
were able to cut prison bars
00:07:54
to escape. NARRATOR: The gang were
heading towards freedom. - There was immediate
attention to it, whenever
00:08:05
you have six inmates escaping. KRISTI EATON: It was one
of the largest escapes in South Dakota State history.
00:08:14
NARRATOR: Berget
and the five other inmates spent a month on the run
before they were found.
00:08:20
MARTY JACKLEY: Law
enforcement had done an excellent job
in rounding up all six of them
00:08:25
at various stages. NARRATOR: Berget was
immediately returned to South Dakota penitentiary.
00:08:36
He was given 10 years
in prison for the escape and a further seven for a burglary
he committed while on the run.
00:08:43
DR. LINA HAJI: Berget has
never really had the mind frame of having anything to lose.
00:08:48
He had so many
escapes from prison, and anybody who
escapes from prison is somebody who's thinking
about short term gratification.
00:08:57
He's never displayed
the ability to think about long-term consequences. [ominous music]
00:09:09
NARRATOR: Berget's older
brother and mentor, Roger, had fared no
better in his life.
00:09:17
MARTY JACKLEY: His brother had
a similar history with respect to in and out of the system.
00:09:23
They involved things
like burglary. NARRATOR: His crimes escalated
when in 1985, he murdered a man
00:09:31
in order to steal his car. Sent to death row, he was
eventually executed 13 years later at the age of 39.
00:09:46
At the time, Rodney
Berget was still languishing in South
Dakota State Penitentiary.
00:09:56
DR. LINA HAJI: That had to have
been devastating for Berget. This was his sidekick, his
mentor from a very early age.
00:10:04
I mean, that has to be horrific
no matter what kind of human you are. [suspenseful music]
00:10:19
NARRATOR: Four years
after his brother's death, 39-year-old Rodney Berget
was released on parole.
00:10:26
He had spent just over
24 years in prison. He returned to his family. KRISTI EATON: I think he
was close to his family.
00:10:36
He was trying to start anew. He had his first birthday
party ever that his sister
00:10:43
and brother-in-law threw him. And so I think it was a time
where his family came, rallied
00:10:48
behind him and were
expecting to see a change in his behavior. NARRATOR: Berget was
also making friends.
00:11:01
One of them was 32-year-old
Beatrice Miranda, who he had met in a bar. BEATRICE MIRANDA:
He was really nice.
00:11:14
He was polite
and very respectful. And so that's why I thought,
oh, I could be his friend.
00:11:22
He was living in Sioux
Falls at the time, and he asked if I wanted
to go visit down there.
00:11:27
We had a good time out there. It was really nice. NARRATOR: Over the following
months of their friendship,
00:11:36
Berget began to reveal
a more disturbing side to his character. BEATRICE MIRANDA: He would
just get angry out of nowhere,
00:11:45
just sitting there watching
TV, and all of a sudden he would just burst, like,
you know, what happened?
00:11:51
[chuckles] I would just
sit there and just-- I didn't know what
he was capable of.
00:11:59
And then he would just
pace back and forth. I was trying to find a reason
to get back home somehow.
00:12:04
[tense music] NARRATOR: Beatrice
persuaded Berget to drive her back to her hometown.
00:12:15
BEATRICE MIRANDA: We
came on the pretense that I just wanted
to visit my sister.
00:12:19
We got here. I was like, I'm not
going back with you. And, oh my gosh, that
was something else.
00:12:25
I mean, he made a big scene
outside my sister's place. And my sister had to go out
there and tell him to leave.
00:12:33
So I thought that
was-- that was it. I wouldn't hear
from him ever again. [ominous music]
00:12:46
NARRATOR: A week passed, and
with no contact from Berget. Beatrice believe he was
now gone from her life.
00:12:53
At the time,
Beatrice was living with her five children,
their ages ranging from five to 16 years old.
00:13:03
Then, out of nowhere, Berget
turned up at her home. BEATRICE MIRANDA:
One day I was at work
00:13:10
and my kids were
at the apartment and they said he
was in my house. By the time I got to the house,
he was already gone.
00:13:18
And so that's when
I called the police and let them know
what was going on. NARRATOR: The very next
night, Beatrice was at home
00:13:30
with her family as well
as her friend and housemate, Brian Horstmann. Beatrice had just put her
youngest children to bed
00:13:45
when the peace was shattered. - I just started kicking. NARRATOR: Outside with
Berget, trying to force
00:13:53
his way into the house. - Really good sturdy steel
door so he couldn't do it. He could feel the whole porch
shaking and Brian jumps up.
00:14:02
NARRATOR: Brian headed to the
door to find Berget with a gun. [gunshot] He shot at him through
the door's window.
00:14:12
Brian collapsed to the floor. Beatrice ran to the bedroom
where she had a gun. BEATRICE MIRANDA: By the time
I turned around with the gun,
00:14:24
he was already out
my bedroom doorway. So I just started shooting,
and I don't know what happened,
00:14:30
but I just remember, like,
getting up off the floor. NARRATOR: When Beatrice
fired, the gun's recoil
00:14:36
had struck her in the head,
knocking her over. She had only grazed Berget,
but it was enough to have
00:14:43
frightened him off. Berget fled the house. - I saw Brian
in the kitchen on the floor,
00:14:52
and my kids were all
like, trying to help him. They were so scared. That was the worst thing I've
ever been through in my life.
00:15:00
NARRATOR: Brian had been
shot in the stomach. Beatrice's kids dialed 911. Then Beatrice suddenly
felt a pain in her back.
00:15:12
BEATRICE MIRANDA: I asked
my son, what is that? It's burning, you know. I had my son check and he
goes, oh my god, you know,
00:15:19
you've been shot. NARRATOR: Beatrice
and Brian were rushed to the hospital,
whilst Berget headed back
00:15:27
across state in a stolen car. MARTY JACKLEY: He traveled
from Lawrence County to Sturgis
00:15:36
to a gas station. [dramatic music] He took the store
clerk against her will. BEATRICE MIRANDA:
Held her at gunpoint.
00:15:52
He raped her in the bathroom,
and then forced her in the car with him and took her.
00:16:00
NARRATOR: A customer at the gas
station entered the empty shop and found it suspicious
nobody was around.
00:16:08
BEATRICE MIRANDA:
They called the cops. He looked at the cameras
and they spotted the outback.
00:16:13
NARRATOR: Police patrol
units were alerted to Berget's stolen vehicle. - It was a high-speed pursuit.
00:16:22
[siren wailing] It went over 100 miles
to Midland, South Dakota. NARRATOR: A Highway
Patrol trooper
00:16:33
managed to get a hold
of brigette's vehicle and deploy spike strips,
puncturing three of his tires
00:16:43
and slowing him dramatically. The kidnapped store
clerk took her chance. BEATRICE MIRANDA: She
jumped out of the car
00:16:53
while he was driving. MARTY JACKLEY: Law enforcement
was able to protect and remove
00:16:59
the clerk from the situation. NARRATOR: Berget came
to a halt in a field and a police standoff followed.
00:17:08
[tense music] - He sat there with
a gun to his head. MARTY JACKLEY: We had an
eight-hour standoff with him.
00:17:15
- But finally he gave up. KRISTI EATON: Ultimately,
Rodney did surrender peacefully, but many
lives were changed
00:17:26
because of that incident. - There's a part
of me that thinks this wasn't his first sexual
assault. He was so brazen.
00:17:36
If you look at the pattern
of behavior, it makes sense
for somebody like Berget.
00:17:42
He was obsessed
with this woman. She rejected him. He then shoots her roommate
because he was in the way,
00:17:49
and now he's mad. Because we have to remember
that sexual assault is not driven by sexual desire.
00:17:56
It's driven by anger, rage
and power and control. I'm not in control. I didn't get what I wanted,
so I'm going to take
00:18:04
that out on somebody else. NARRATOR:
At the hospital, there was good news for Beatrice
and her roommate
00:18:10
Brian, who had been
wounded in Berget's attack. BEATRICE MIRANDA: When
the doctors saw me,
00:18:18
thank God it was only
a ricochet bullet because it was right on my spine. They were like, you're
going to be fine.
00:18:24
Brian spent about a week
or so in the hospital. I honestly thought
that he wasn't
00:18:29
going to make it because he
had lost a lot of blood. I think it was
like the second day
00:18:34
when I knew he was
going to be OK. I felt so guilty, you know. I brought that there.
00:18:39
And to this day, I still
feel bad because he didn't have to go through that. NARRATOR: After his
rampage, Rodney Berget
00:18:51
cut a deal with prosecutors. If he pleaded guilty
to attempted murder and kidnapping, they would drop
the five other charges,
00:18:59
which included one
count of attempted murder, first-degree
burglary and rape. On December 2, 2003, he was
sentenced to life in prison.
00:19:13
BEATRICE MIRANDA: I was
so relieved, but yet, you know, I was still hesitant
because I knew he-- he had
00:19:19
escaped from there already. So I was-- yeah,
I was glad, but I didn't know how long he
was going to be in there.
00:19:26
[somber music] I always was afraid
that he was going to come back after me because I
knew he was going to escape.
00:19:37
I knew he was. NARRATOR: Rodney
Berget was back inside South Dakota
State Penitentiary.
00:19:54
Former corrections
corporal Matt Freeburg was there
at the time, and aware of this inmate's reputation.
00:20:01
[dynamic music] MATTHEW FREEBURG:
Berget's name had been brought up as one
of the ones that previously
00:20:12
had successfully escaped. He definitely had kind of that
inmate appearance to him.
00:20:19
He had kind
of a ratty ponytail. Berget was about
average height. His build was, I would
say, on the smaller side.
00:20:30
Like, if you did
stop long enough and look them in the eyes, they
did just have this evil look,
00:20:36
maybe a hollow look. He didn't speak a whole lot. [ominous music] NARRATOR: In 2006,
a new inmate arrived
00:20:53
at South Dakota
State Penitentiary. Eric Robert was starting
an 80-year sentence
00:21:00
for impersonating
a police officer in the attempted rape and
murder of an 18-year-old girl.
00:21:06
Eric Robert was aware
of Berget's escape attempts and immediately
latched on to him.
00:21:12
KRISTI EATON: I believe it
was a friendship of necessity because Eric Robert wanted
out by any means necessary,
00:21:19
and Rodney Berget was his
way of reaching that goal. MATTHEW FREEBURG: That attitude
on his end and Berget having
00:21:31
previously escaped, you
know, thinking, you know, we can do this again,
probably helped
00:21:36
them forge their partnership. NARRATOR: Berget
and Robert started devising an escape plan.
00:21:45
It was going to take time,
maybe years, to execute, but they were in it
for the long haul.
00:21:51
The first thing they needed
were prison jobs so they could move around the facility.
00:21:57
- Inmates can have all
sorts of jobs in prison. They help keep the prison
and the prison grounds clean.
00:22:04
There are landscaping jobs. There are trades
within the prison, such as making license plates
or making prison uniforms.
00:22:11
And the reason it's beneficial
for inmates is, number one, it keeps them busy. And number two,
there's a selfish need
00:22:18
that's met on behalf
of the prison because it's free
or very cheap labor. Also, there's some
evidence when inmates
00:22:25
are being kept busy,
the violence in the prison tends to go down,
which makes sense.
00:22:33
NARRATOR: But Berget
and Robert wouldn't be allowed jobs until
they proved they were less of a security risk.
00:22:40
MATTHEW FREEBURG:
Behaving yourself and trying to have a clean record
for months, maybe even years,
00:22:46
however long it took. NARRATOR: After five
years of good behavior, Berget and Robert were trusted
enough to be given jobs
00:22:54
in the prison laundry system. MATTHEW FREEBURG: And they
got the job they wanted,
00:23:00
which gave them
almost unlimited access to scout around. They can go to everybody's
cell anywhere in the facility
00:23:09
to grab their laundry bags,
get down routines and times, and what happens at what time.
00:23:16
NARRATOR: Berget and Robert
moved to the next stage of their escape plan. Robert had previously
impersonated a police officer.
00:23:27
He was now aiming
to impersonate a correctional officer,
in a bid to break out of the prison grounds.
00:23:37
MATTHEW FREEBURG:
So contrary to Berget, inmate Robert looked
very clean shaven.
00:23:45
He didn't have any
visible tattoos. Very much could look the part
of a person in uniform
00:23:53
if he wanted to. KRISTI EATON:
The two inmates knew they needed to get the uniform
of a guard any way possible.
00:24:05
NARRATOR: One
officer who worked at the state penitentiary was
62-year-old Ronald Johnson.
00:24:12
He had dedicated nearly 24
years of his life to the job. - At work, they gave
him the nickname of RJ.
00:24:19
[piano music] I am Lynette Kaye Johnson
and I am his wife. We have been married 46 years.
00:24:33
NARRATOR: Ronald met Lynette
in the spring of 1977, when they went
on a date after being
00:24:39
set up by a mutual friend. [emotional music] LYNETTE KAYE JOHNSON: We
had both been divorced.
00:24:48
Didn't really trust
guys at the time. That didn't go so well,
the first night. So I thought,
well, I don't have
00:24:57
nothing to worry about there. But guess what. He was on the phone
the next day and we were apart-- after
that, together ever.
00:25:09
- My dad was calm, quiet,
invested in his family. He was the dad that was
always there, The papa
00:25:19
that was always there. - He was kind
of a man of few words when it came to a lot
of situations.
00:25:29
But he enjoyed his
job just because he liked being around people. LYNETTE JOHNSON: And Ron on
respected some of those inmates
00:25:41
there, most of them. And he would always
say, oh, they're nice. I said, yeah, built that big
house up on the hill just
00:25:51
for all the nice people to be. [intriguing music] TONI SCHAFER: I was like,
yuck, why would you want
00:25:59
to work at the penitentiary? And I just was like, no,
that's where the bad guys go.
00:26:06
And he'd say, they might have
had just one bad day, you know. It's just a good guy who had
a bad day, and now here he is.
00:26:17
JESSE JOHNSON: He always gave
everybody a chance, no matter what they did in life.
00:26:22
And I wouldn't
say forgave them, but understood their situation. MATTHEW FREEBURG: Ronald
RJ Johnson, everybody
00:26:30
loved working with him. One of the rare guys
that even the inmates had a lot of respect for.
00:26:42
NARRATOR: But not
Robert and Berget. RJ would be seen
as a disposable tool and their ticket to freedom.
00:26:56
Ronald Johnson arrived at the
prison to start a day shift. He was originally meant
to have the day off
00:27:02
as it was his 63rd birthday. TONI SCHAFER: They had
somebody call in sick, and they called in the morning
and asked him to come in,
00:27:14
and he said yes. LYNETTE JOHNSON: He'd
always kissed me goodbye. And then I gave him a big hug
and gave him another kiss.
00:27:28
And I said, happy birthday. And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he'd, you
know, always stick
00:27:34
his tongue out and like,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, ignore my birthday. And, um-- and he
went out to work.
00:27:47
NARRATOR: For Berget
and Robert, today would be
their escape day. On the pretense
of doing laundry duties,
00:27:59
Rodney Berget and Eric
Robert headed to a back room in the prison workshop. They met a fellow inmate
to retrieve a couple
00:28:07
of items they had pre-ordered. MARTY JACKLEY: In the weeks
before the actual event,
00:28:15
they had contacted
Nordman, another lifer. They had obtained from Nordman
the pipe and the shrink wrap.
00:28:22
NARRATOR: Berget
and Robert were now armed and ready to execute
their escape plan.
00:28:28
Step one, to obtain a
corrections officer's uniform. They hid in a workshop
and laid in wait for an officer
00:28:36
to come through. That officer was
Ronald Johnson. - He was just simply doing the
job of a correctional officer.
00:28:49
He was doing his rounds. And they jumped him. NARRATOR: Berget
started savagely beating Ronald over
the head with a lead pipe.
00:29:02
MARTY JACKLEY: It was horrific,
but he never stopped fighting. The defensive wounds
that he had on his hands,
00:29:07
he was doing
everything he could to try to survive that attack. NARRATOR: Ronald
Johnson was overwhelmed.
00:29:16
Robert and Berget continued
their barbaric assault, covering his head
with the plastic wrap.
00:29:24
MARTY JACKLEY: They
utilized the plastic wrap for two reasons. One, to muffle sounds so that
they wouldn't be discovered,
00:29:32
and the other is
a suffocation method that they had every intent
to commit that murder.
00:29:37
They needed the uniform. So as he tried to fight
back with shrink wrap around his head, and they kept
hitting him with that pipe.
00:29:49
DR. LINA HAJI: What they
did to Officer Johnson, it's so heinous,
really horrific
00:29:57
and completely unnecessary. MARTY JACKLEY: Once they
had brought RJ Johnson down,
00:30:05
they removed his uniform. Robert put on his
uniform to try to look like a correction officer.
00:30:12
NARRATOR: They left Ronald's
brown officer's shirt behind as it had too
much blood on it.
00:30:20
MARTY JACKLEY: They then
took a cart with a box. Berget hid in the box because
they only had one uniform,
00:30:26
and Robert then
pushed the cart out and they headed straight to get
to the outside of the prison.
00:30:36
NARRATOR: Corrections
corporal Matt Freeburg was also on duty that day. Matt was at the prison
gates checking a food truck
00:30:44
that was entering the prison. [ominous music] MATTHEW FREEBURG:
As soon as it clears,
00:30:52
here comes an officer pushing
a flat cart with a box on it. And so it's like,
all right, you know,
00:30:59
just leave the gate
open and we'll wait and we'll go out together. And the tower officer
closes the inner gate.
00:31:06
NARRATOR: Matt
doesn't recognize the officer in front of him. And before he signals the outer
gate to be opened for them,
00:31:14
he notices they haven't
followed procedure. MATTHEW FREEBURG: I look
at the officer and I said,
00:31:23
you didn't swipe your badge. He says he forgot it at home. That's not uncommon. You know, people leave
stuff at home all the time.
00:31:33
[suspenseful music] As we're talking, I'm kind
of looking at him up and down. He's got uniform pants, uniform
jacket and a white t-shirt.
00:31:44
I cannot see his
brown officer's shirt. And so I'm like, where's
your uniform shirt at?
00:31:50
And he's like,
oh, it's on there. It's under my jacket. It's there. Don't worry about it.
00:31:55
And I try and push
his coat aside to see if that brown
shirt is on there. He takes-- he moves
back and he's just like,
00:32:02
it's under there. Don't worry about
it, I told you. And it's like, OK, you're
really ballsy for a new person
00:32:07
to somebody who outranks you. NARRATOR: With
suspicions raised, Matt contacted
the control tower
00:32:15
to request verification
of the mystery officer, when something else
caught his attention.
00:32:23
MATTHEW FREEBURG:
I hear some noise, and I look over at the cart,
and the box is moving.
00:32:30
It's starting to shake. Bursts open at the top
and out comes Berget. While I'm looking
at him come out,
00:32:37
I get struck across
the face from Robert. And so we start
to fight Berget, and he still had
RJ's radio, and
00:32:47
he proceeds to strike
me multiple times in the back of the head. [tense music] NARRATOR: During the struggle,
Robert made a break for it
00:32:59
and started climbing
the outer gate. But offices in the tower
had already called
00:33:05
a code red over the radio. MATTHEW FREEBURG: Once
Robert was up on the fence and it was just me and Berget,
I had taken the upper hand
00:33:17
and I had gotten on top of him,
and I basically the cavalry had arrived now. I get picked up and lifted
off of this guy.
00:33:25
But then Robert
jumps off the fence, and Robert and Berget
looked at each other and they shook hands.
00:33:35
And then they
basically gave up. MARTY JACKLEY: They were
very close to getting out.
00:33:44
I certainly believe that if you
look at their criminal history, these individuals had no regard
for people and human life.
00:33:52
I believe if they would
have crossed a civilian in the process
of furthering the escape,
00:33:58
that they would have done
harm to that individual. I credit the excellent
work of Freeburg
00:34:03
and the correction officers
to foil their escape attempt. MATTHEW FREEBURG:
Most of my injuries
00:34:10
were facial bruising
and abrasions. You're just kind of thinking
during this whole time trying
00:34:17
to process this, how close did
you come potentially to being severely hurt or killed?
00:34:28
NARRATOR: In the aftermath of
the confrontation at the gate came a chilling realization.
00:34:34
MATTHEW FREEBURG: This
uniform came from someone. Someone was wearing it that
isn't wearing it anymore,
00:34:40
and we got to go find who
that uniform belonged to. NARRATOR: A search
of the prison
00:34:46
brought the grim discovery
of Ronald Johnson lying motionless. - RJ Johnson's skull was
fractured in three places,
00:34:59
and parts of his
brain were exposed. He was hurt so badly. NARRATOR: Remarkably,
Ronald Johnson
00:35:10
was still clinging
by a thread to life and was rushed to the hospital. As fate would have
it, his daughter
00:35:19
Toni, an anesthesia nurse,
was working there at the time. TONI SCHAFER: As the trauma
bay door from the ambulance,
00:35:29
opened and he was coming
in and I'm like, that's my dad. [emotional music] He had a towel over
his head and there
00:35:38
was nothing on the monitors. And his color I knew was off. And when I put my left hand
on his arm, I knew it was cold.
00:35:52
And one of my coworkers said,
Toni, I'm going to take over. And I said-- I go, Dad,
you're going to be fine.
00:36:01
I told him he'd be fine
when I knew he wasn't. NARRATOR: Toni
called her brother,
00:36:15
who was driving to work. JESSE JOHNSON: I had gotten
a phone call from my sister,
00:36:22
and my sister said dad
was in an accident, got in a fight at work. She didn't know much
more information,
00:36:29
but it didn't sound good. At that time, I turned
around and started coming towards Sioux Falls.
00:36:38
NARRATOR: It was going
to take Jesse over two hours to get to the hospital. Meanwhile, RJ's wife,
Lynette, had just arrived.
00:36:48
A short time later,
they were given the news they didn't want to hear. TONI SCHAFER: The physician
came in, Dr. Perry walked in
00:36:58
and he said, Toni,
I'm so sorry. And then my mom
was standing there. And she hit me and said,
on the chest-- and she said,
00:37:11
you need to get
in there and fix this. You need to fix him. LYNETTE JOHNSON: They
came and they told us.
00:37:23
I was so angry and I just
needed to get back there. He was laying on the table. They had a towel over his head
and I thought he was cold.
00:37:38
That's why they had
that towel on his head. I didn't realize that he didn't
have the back of his head.
00:37:44
I didn't know that. TONI SCHAFER: She
laid on his belly and was looking
for his hands, and
00:37:52
they told her she
couldn't touch him because he was a crime scene. And when they said that,
I just remember thinking,
00:38:03
how can you make
him a crime scene? Like, I don't get that. Like, she wants to hold her
husband just one more time.
00:38:19
JESSE JOHNSON: About 20
minutes into the drive, my mom had called
and said, Dad has passed.
00:38:25
You don't need to speed. You don't have to get
here right away. Just drive safe.
00:38:29
And at that point, you know,
like, the guilt of, like, living in Yankton,
so far away from--
00:38:37
because we got to spend
weekends together, but not necessarily
time during the week--
00:38:40
kind of came over me. I went from a day from working
to getting a phone call that changed my whole life.
00:38:51
NARRATOR:
In the following days, the family
and the outside world learned the full
details of what
00:38:58
had happened at the South
Dakota State Penitentiary. - When I found out
that inmates did this,
00:39:07
there wasn't an inmate in that
building that didn't like Ron. [ominous music] KRISTI EATON: I've covered
some horrible crimes before,
00:39:23
but this one was definitely one
of the worst I had heard about. JESSE JOHNSON:
Robert and Berget
00:39:33
have no regard
for human life, and the fact that they were
cowards with a pipe, and took two of them
to do what they did,
00:39:42
as a man you could probably
take care of him yourself. MARTY JACKLEY: I was a lead
prosecutor on both the Berget
00:39:51
and the Robert cases. NARRATOR: South Dakota
attorney General Marty Jackley wanted to pursue
the death penalty
00:40:00
for both Robert and Berget. MARTY JACKLEY:
The evidence showed they had every intention to
murder that correction officer
00:40:07
in a very inhumane way. It was horrific. But the evidence showed
he never stopped fighting.
00:40:14
The defensive wounds
that he had on his hands. He was doing
everything he could to try to survive that attack.
00:40:29
Berget and Robert both were
serving life sentences. In my mind, they were not
going to stop harming people
00:40:37
and that the only
way to protect other inmates, correction
officers, and medical staff
00:40:42
at the prison was
a capital sentence. NARRATOR: In two
separate hearings, both Eric Robert
and Rodney Berget pleaded
00:40:51
guilty to first-degree murder. Both were sentenced to death. KRISTI EATON: Eric Robert
wanted to get out of prison
00:41:02
or die trying,
and he ended up not appealing the death sentence,
not appealing his conviction.
00:41:11
So he was put to death fairly
quickly by most standards. NARRATOR: On October
15, 2012, a year
00:41:22
and a half after Ronald
Johnson's murder, Robert was executed
by lethal injection.
00:41:29
In contrast, Rodney
Berget continually appealed his death sentence. TONI SCHAFER: He
never apologized.
00:41:36
He was trying to draw
out the process. It's just his
evil ways, I feel, to continue to torture us.
00:41:48
I never believed
in the death penalty. I was always
outspoken about it, but I figure I want the inmate
to get what they don't want.
00:41:55
Eric Robert, he wanted to die. I wanted him to have to sit
there for the rest of his life.
00:42:03
I wanted Berget
to be put to death. Some people don't have a soul. NARRATOR: Rodney
Berget eventually
00:42:13
decided to withdraw his appeal
against his death sentence, and on October 29, 2018, he was
executed by lethal injection.
00:42:24
Ronald Johnson's family
were there to witness it. MARTY JACKLEY: Berget
just sat there,
00:42:32
very cold, very emotionless. - He was just looking
at the ceiling, basically. - Even right before he
takes his last breath,
00:42:43
he does not express remorse. He does not say sorry. He does not apologize. I don't think Berget
was capable of remorse.
00:42:53
TONI SCHAFER: He said
he loved a few people. And then he went to sleep. He just snored and it was done.
00:43:03
- Clean, painless. I wish Ron could
have had that death. BEATRICE MIRANDA: When he
was sentenced to death,
00:43:20
I was ecstatic. I was really ecstatic because
then I didn't have to worry about, you know, hiding
behind my curtains
00:43:25
and in my locked doors. I should have killed them. Ron would still be alive. NARRATOR: RJ's
horrific death had
00:43:35
a massive impact on both staff
and inmates at the prison. MARTY JACKLEY: There is
a building at the prison named
00:43:42
after RJ, and I think
that's the legacy, I hope, he's remembered for. His family and the impact
he had, not just
00:43:50
on other correctional
officers, but the inmates that cared for him. NARRATOR: April 12, each
year, Ronald Johnson's family
00:43:59
celebrate his birthday and
commemorate the day he died. LYNETTE JOHNSON:
I light a candle.
00:44:07
The hour from 10:00 to 11:00. And then I go up
to the cemetery, and I let balloons
off here, and
00:44:14
then I let balloons off there. TONI SCHAFER: But mom
and dad, their relationship
00:44:22
was something special. Not many people get to have,
but everybody wants it. But Berget, I think he
had nothing good in him
00:44:33
to look forward to. DR. LINA HAJI: Berget
his crimes were horrific. He traumatized
and disrupted so many lives.
00:44:43
In a nutshell, I would say
that Berget is absolutely an evil human being. [clicking]
00:44:54
[theme music]