Because the statute mandates the method of execution, Rounds and Long said there was a chance that failure to strictly follow it could render the execution illegal. Long said, however, that Page and his attorney were aware of the discrepancy between the statute and the planned method of execution but that Page made a "conscious decision" not to challenge the execution on that ground. That alone was not sufficient for Long and Rounds.
"The concern was more for the participation of South Dakota employees and South Dakota personnel in what could arguably be an illegal execution," Long said.
Rounds and Long both said the reprieve is temporary. Rounds wants the South Dakota Legislature to have the opportunity to look at the state's capital punishment statutes and determine if it wants to change them to conform with the protocol used by other states. He said the fact Page's execution would have occurred just months after his sentence was upheld by the South Dakota Supreme Court in January meant the issue had not previously been raised or brought to the legislature's attention.
The South Dakota Legislature does not convene again until January 2007. Laws enacted during a legislative session do not go into effect until July 1, leading Rounds to delay the execution until sometime after July 1, 2007.
Article comments
1 - RJ Elliott
Uh, the Governor only discovered this "issue" FOUR HOURS before the man was to be put to death? Either he's an incompetent Governor, or this was a cruel, planned non-event utilized solely to boost his re-election chances by getting more anti-death penalty voters to support him for re-election in November...
2 - pleasexcusetheinterruption12
Is being anti-death penalty popular in SD?????
3 - RJ Elliott
Perhaps not overall, but you can bet anti-death penalty types are viewing Governor Rounds a lot more favorably today than they were a couple days ago...and most pro-death penalty people will shrug this news off under the assumption that this clown will simply be put to death next year instead...
4 - RJ Elliott
That's how politics works...you turn an enemy into an ally without pissing off your existing allies...you use a human being as a political football in order to win an election...(just like Bill Clinton flew back to Arkansas to personally oversee the execution of a retard when he was running for President in 1992...)...it's disgusting, but this sort of cynical crap happens all the time...