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A doughnut shop burglary ended on death row
Rhines, 63, became the fifth person executed by lethal injection in South Dakota since 1976 after confessing four times to the killing, officials said.
- In 2019, South Dakota officials executed Charles Rhines by lethal injection for the 1992 murder of Donnivan Schaeffer. At 63 years old, Rhines became the last person executed in South Dakota.
- On March 8, 1992, Rhines entered the Donuts Shop to rob the business using a duplicate key he had crafted before his termination from the shop. He encountered Schaeffer during the burglary.
- Rhines stabbed Schaeffer, who begged for help, before stealing about $1,700 in cash. Attorney Dennis Groff noted at trial that Schaeffer, 22 and planning to marry, died instantly from the knife wound.
- Throughout his incarceration, Rhines filed appeals claiming jury prejudice regarding his sexual orientation. The South Dakota Supreme Court rejected these concerns in 1996, ruling that any improperly admitted evidence constituted 'harmless error.'
- Protests preceded the 2019 execution at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, where Donnivan's father held a picture of his son. Rhines had spent 23 hours daily in lockdown during his decades-long incarceration.
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A doughnut shop burglary ended on death row
“It was evil. I’ve been in this business for 30 years, and the only nightmare I’ve ever had about police work was about him," Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender said in one newspaper interview.
·Cloquet, United States
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Leaning Left0Leaning Right9Center9Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center, 50% Right
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center, 50% of the sources lean Right
50% Right
C 50%
R 50%
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