(Newser) – Georgia officials have delayed the execution of an inmate who tried to take his own life hours before the state was scheduled to take it. Convicted murdered Brandon Rhode slit his wrists and throat before he was due to die by lethal injection yesterday, AP reports. Georgia's Supreme Court granted a temporary stay and the execution has been rescheduled for Friday.



Rhode's lawyer filed a motion saying that the suicide attempt proves that his client is "incompetent" and executing him would be cruel and unusual punishment. "He's utterly terrified and just hopeless," the lawyer said. Rhode, 31, was sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of a trucking company owner, his 11-year-old son and his 15-year-old daughter during a burglary. His co-conspirator is also on death row.

(Read more Brandon Rhode stories.)

