USA - South Dakota. A jury sentenced James McVay, 43, White, to death

A Minnehaha County jury sentenced James McVay, 43, White, to death, in the July 2, 2011 killing of Maybelle Schein, 75. McVay had pleaded guilty but mentally ill in 2012, saying that he killed Schein and stole her car as part of his plan to drive to Washington and assassinate President Barack Obama. Authorities said McVay walked away from a minimum-security prison in July 2011 in Sioux Falls and was mixing cough syrup and alcohol when he climbed under Schein's slightly open garage door, entered her house, killed her and drove away in her car. After Schein's car was reported stolen, police used a tracking service in the vehicle to find McVay on a freeway. He was arrested after a brief chase. Police Officer Kipp Hartman testified that he was trying to get McVay to reveal his name when McVay began saying he "killed a little old lady" in South Dakota and stole her car to get to Washington, D.C., to kill the president. McVay will be formally sentenced at a later date. All 3 of the men executed by South Dakota in the modern era - Eric Robert, Elijah Page and Donald Moeller - gave up their appeals voluntarily before their deaths. A 4th man, Robert Leroy Anderson, committed suicide while on death row.