Ga. Executes Inmate Who Attempted Suicide

A Georgia inmate who tried to kill himself last week was executed by lethal injection last night after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal for a stay of execution. Brandon Rhode, 31—convicted of the 1998 murders of a trucking company owner, his 11-year-old son, and his 15-year-old daughter—had his execution postponed after slashing his throat and wrists, the AP reports.

Rhodes was taken to the hospital after the suicide attempt and placed in a restraining chair to prevent him from injuring himself further, a move his lawyer argued was cruel and unusual punishment. "He has been subjected to the surreal and incomprehensible: Heroic measures taken to stabilize his life by the prison staff that would then execute him," the lawyer said in a court filing. Rhode declined to speak any last words or have a final prayer. (More Brandon Rhode stories.)