SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A federal judge has rejected a demand from the only South Dakotan on death row to overturn his death sentence 25 years after the crime.
U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange has denied Briley Piper’s writ of habeas corpus, the South Dakota Attorney General’s office said in a news release.
Piper was convicted for the torture and murder of Chester Poage near Spearfish in 2000. He was sentenced to the death penalty.
Piper is the only person on death row in South Dakota.
In the decision, Lange denied Piper’s claims that his counsel had not been effective in representing him and denied Piper’s demand to overturn his sentence.
Piper can still appeal his sentence to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
