Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Man Attempts Suicide Hours Before his Scheduled Execution

Execution Postponed for 48 Hours

As reported by the Associated Press:

The Georgia Supreme Court has delayed the execution of a man convicted of killing two children and their father when they caught him burglarizing their home.

Brandon Joseph Rhode was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, GA.

His attorneys filed a motion Tuesday urging the court to delay the execution because Rhode attempted suicide hours before it was to take place. The motion said Rhode is "incompetent" and executing him would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The execution is now scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, but it could be later.

"The state Supreme Court has granted a temporary stay, 'pending petitioner's access to counsel' and an opportunity to file an application to challenge his mental competency to be executed," Supreme Court spokeswoman Jane Hansen said in a statement.

Rhode was given the death sentence in 2000 for the 1998 killings of 37-year-old Steven Moss, his 11-year-old son Bryan and 15-year-old daughter Kristin during a burglary of their Jones County home

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