The U-S Supreme Court has refused without comment to take up the latest appeal from South Dakota’s only death row inmate
Briley Piper of Alaska was sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty to taking part in the torture killing Chester Allen Poage of Spearfish 20 years ago.
Piper was one of 3 men convicted in the murder. Elijah Page pleaded guilty and was given the death penalty. He was executed in 2007 after waiving his appeals, the first execution in South Dakota in 60 years.
Darrell Hoadley went to trial and was convicted of 1st-degree murder, but was given life without parole. He remains incarcerated.
Pipe, Page, and Hoadley described the 19-year old Poage as a friend, but decided while high on methamphetamine and LSD burglarized his home. They went on to kidnap him at gunpoint, torture him, and finally kill him.
Investigators say Poage was tortured for at least 3 hours, including being forced to drink acid while the trio continued to beat and kick him. Poage was eventually stabbed in the head and torso, forced to strip, and thrown into an icy creek.
Page and Hoadley admitted they both dropped heavy rocks on Poage’s head, actions which they believed were what finally killed him. Poage’s body would not be discovered until a month after his death.