Yesterday, South Dakota carried out the long-overdue execution of Charles Rhines for murdering Donnivan Schaeffer in 1992. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader re-posted this archive story from 2014 with details of the crime and the reasons why this case stands out as particularly deserving of the death penalty. The same paper has this story by Danielle Ferguson on the execution. Donnivan Schaeffer's mother, Peggy Schaeffer, made a statement:
"Today is a big day, a day marked with sadness and grief but also relief and justice," she said. "But above all today is a day we talk about Donnivan, the boy who loved his family, fiancee and friends, the guy who drove that old red pickup ... He is missed, and he is loved, and he will never be forgotten.Sheila Jackson, Donnivan's former fiancee, said Donnivan was a supporter of the death penalty and that he "really believed in an 'eye for an eye.'" Both Jackson and Peggy Schaeffer agreed justice had been served.
Rhines's case went to the Supreme Court 14 years ago. See Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269 (2005). I will have more to say about that case in another post.
South Dakota can still obtain pentobarbital, the drug of choice for lethal injection and the primary one used by veterinarians for euthanasia of animals.
Rhines filed a civil suit against the state for its choice of drug in his execution. The Second Judicial Circuit Court denied his request for a stay, saying his claims should have been brought up eight years ago when Rhines knew pentobarbital could be used in his execution.
Rhines filed the suit against the state after he requested on Oct. 1 to be executed by an ultra-short-acting barbiturate, and he asked that the state identify which drug would be used. The state replied on Oct. 17 that it intended to use pentobarbital, which Rhines argued was not an ultra-short acting barbiturate and therefore a violation of his right to choose the ultra-short-acting barbiturate.
The Second Judicial Circuit, the South Dakota Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court all denied those claims.
A murderer executed with pentobarbital is going to feel far less pain than most people experience in death, and vastly less than nearly all murder victims. The execution did, in fact, go off without any unusual incident.
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