Correctional Officer's Killer In Court

sioux falls, sd

An inmate who's admitted to his role in the death of a corrections officer at the South Dakota State Penitentiary will be back in court Friday.

Eric Robert is charged with murder in the April death of 63-year-old Ron Johnson and faces the death penalty. He's one of three inmates accused of killing Johnson while two of them tried to escape.

Robert changed his plea to guilty at a hearing last month. That's when he said he had come up with the plan to kill Johnson, was the one who hit him in the head with a lead pipe and suffocated him with saran wrap.

Rodney Berget also tried to escape with Robert and plans to move forward with a jury trial. Michael Joseph Nordman was just named last month as the man who officials say provided the murder weapon.