Judge Warren Johnson sentenced Briley Piper of Anchorage and Elijah Page of Athens, Texas, to death after they pleaded guilty to killing Chester Allan Poage of Spearfish. Page ended his appeals and was executed in 2007.
A third man, Darrell Hoadley of Lead, pleaded not guilty and was convicted by a jury, which sentenced him to life in prison.
Piper appealed and the South Dakota Supreme Court in July ruled unanimously that a jury -- not Johnson -- should have decided if Piper got life in prison or death by lethal injection. Piper did not validly give up his right to have a jury sentence him, the court said.
Justices noted that Johnson told Piper that all 12 jurors would have to agree on a sentence if he put his fate in their hands. In fact, Piper would have gotten a mandatory life sentence if even one juror had voted against death.
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