By Greg Bluestein
Associated Press
ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court is delaying the execution of a condemned man who attempted suicide hours before he was to be put to death by injection.
The court’s order postponed the execution of Brandon Joseph Rhode to give the 31-year-old a chance to file a new challenge after his attorneys said he tried to slit his wrists. Corrections officials rescheduled it for Friday.
Rhode’s attorneys say executing him would violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Rhode was scheduled to die for the killings of a 37-year-old man and two of his children during a burglary.
In March, Ohio inmate Lawrence Reynolds overdosed on an antidepressant hours before he was to be taken to the death chamber. He recovered in a hospital and was executed a week later.