South Dakota inmate Rodney Berget makes joke moments before execution by lethal injection

He did not apologise to or address the family of the prison guard he killed.

A man sentenced to the death penalty used his last moments alive to crack a joke.

Rodney Berget was sentenced to death for murdering a prison guard in 2011. Following a six-hour delay in the execution plan, he said “Sorry for the delay, I got stuck in traffic,” the Daily Mirror reported. He also told several people “I love you and I’ll meet you out there.”

Notably, he did not say anything to the family of the victim who he had killed, nor did he express remorse. In 2011, Mr Berget killed prison guard Ron “RJ” Johnson in a failed attempt to escape his life sentence. He was originally imprisoned for attempted murder and kidnapping.

After his last meal and last words, staff injected Mr Berget with lethal drugs.

An attorney claimed that the state of South Dakota violated the constitution by executing Mr Berget, as the he was intellectually disabled. The Supreme Court considered the attorney’s claim to stay the execution because of his disability, but ultimately decided to go ahead six hours later. The execution took place around 7.30pm on Monday, and his official time of death was 7.37pm.

Attorneys had argued for the past six years that Mr Berget was intellectually disabled; he had even competed in the special Olympics when he was younger. But his trial lawyer never formally delved into this line of defence.

"I knew what I was doing, and I continued to do it,” Mr Berget said in 2011 after he killed Mr Johnson. “I destroyed a family. I took away a father, a husband, a grandpa." He also said that he wanted and deserved to die.

The widow of the victim said “He chose to be evil,” according to the Argus Leader.

Eighteen years ago, Mr Berget's brother was also executed by the state of South Dakota. South Dakota has only executed four people since 1976.