09-24-2010, 08:59 AM
Brandon Rhode was brought from “the brink of death” only so the state could execute him a few days later and that violates the constitutional protection from cruel punishment, his attorney argued in court papers filed in an attempt to stop the lethal injection set for Friday evening.
Attorney Brian Kammer wrote in a filing in the court in Butts County, where death row is located, that there were “ironic circumstances” around the days leading up to Rhode’s execution for a 1998 triple murder in Jones County.
Also Thursday, a federal judge denied a request for a stay of execution so an investigation can be carried out to find out how Rhode got razor blades and used them to try to commit suicide hours before his scheduled execution on Tuesday.
Rhode tried to kill himself by slitting the side of his neck and both arms. By the time he was discovered, Rhode was unconscious and had lost half the blood in his body; he was revived at the hospital in nearby Griffin.
His self-inflicted wounds were sutured and he was returned to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, where he has been kept restrained since the suicide attempt.
His lawyer says the suicide attempt is evidence Rhode is not competent to be executed. The courts have said an execution cannot be carried out if the condemned does not understand the punishment and the reason for it.
Rhode and a co-defendant were sentenced to die a decade ago for killing 37-year-old Steven Moss, and his 11-year-old son, Bryan, and 15-year-old daughter, Kristin. Rhode and Daniel Lucas, also on death row, were ransacking the Moss home when Bryan came home and confronted the two men armed with a baseball bat.
They shot the boy. They killed his sister when she came home moments later. Steven Moss was their third victim.
Rhode's execution was to have been at 7 p.m. Tuesday but it was delayed after the suicide attempt. It was reset for Friday at 9 a.m., but on Thursday the Department of Corrections commissioner put back the time to 7 p.m. to allow more time for the courts to resolve multiple challenges pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and in the state court.
In various filings, Rhode’s attorneys say he should not be executed because the 31-year-old man suffered fetal alcohol syndrome and had poor impulse control, that he is not competent because of the suicide attempt or that the execution should be delayed until prison officials address concerns that staff are not following rules that protect condemned inmates.
Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey rejected Rhode’s request for a stay, but he ordered the Department of Corrections to make sure Rhode is no longer a danger to himself. The DOC's existing protections did not prevent him from seriously injuring himself, the judge noted. Rhode’s lawyers say a guard gave him a razor and that is what he used to cut himself.disposable razors are given so inmates can shave under supervision and are examined when collected. that is routine and normal.
Rhode had concealed the razor blade he used to cut his neck and arms while lying under a blanket, said Joe Drolet, a lawyer for the state attorney general's office. He was being observed by guards, but they could not see what was happening under the blanket and took action when they saw blood.
"There's not a pattern of recklessly handing out razors to suicidal death row inmates," he said.
A competency hearing that lasted almost 11 hours over two days ended Thursday night in a courtroom at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison.
Before the hearing resumed Thursday afternoon at the prison near Jackson, 50 miles south of Atlanta, Rhode's lawyer filed papers in court contending that Rhode has been subjected to inhumane treatment since his suicide attempt. Kammer wrote Rhode was given no medication for his physical pain or “mental anguish.”that's correct...no mind-altering or narcotic drugs.
He also wrote that once Rhode was returned to prison, he was “dressed in a filthy, old, frayed jumpsuit with blood stains on it” and strapped into a “torture chair.” that would be a restraint chair used to prevent someone out of control from hurting themselves or others.
“The stress and barbarity of his present situation, coupled with his longstanding depression and mental illness, has resulted in Brandon Rhode now experiencing dissociative episodes as his mind tries unsuccessfully to cope with his current physical condition.”
what a complete load.
Attorney Brian Kammer wrote in a filing in the court in Butts County, where death row is located, that there were “ironic circumstances” around the days leading up to Rhode’s execution for a 1998 triple murder in Jones County.
Also Thursday, a federal judge denied a request for a stay of execution so an investigation can be carried out to find out how Rhode got razor blades and used them to try to commit suicide hours before his scheduled execution on Tuesday.
Rhode tried to kill himself by slitting the side of his neck and both arms. By the time he was discovered, Rhode was unconscious and had lost half the blood in his body; he was revived at the hospital in nearby Griffin.
His self-inflicted wounds were sutured and he was returned to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, where he has been kept restrained since the suicide attempt.
His lawyer says the suicide attempt is evidence Rhode is not competent to be executed. The courts have said an execution cannot be carried out if the condemned does not understand the punishment and the reason for it.
Rhode and a co-defendant were sentenced to die a decade ago for killing 37-year-old Steven Moss, and his 11-year-old son, Bryan, and 15-year-old daughter, Kristin. Rhode and Daniel Lucas, also on death row, were ransacking the Moss home when Bryan came home and confronted the two men armed with a baseball bat.
They shot the boy. They killed his sister when she came home moments later. Steven Moss was their third victim.
Rhode's execution was to have been at 7 p.m. Tuesday but it was delayed after the suicide attempt. It was reset for Friday at 9 a.m., but on Thursday the Department of Corrections commissioner put back the time to 7 p.m. to allow more time for the courts to resolve multiple challenges pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and in the state court.
In various filings, Rhode’s attorneys say he should not be executed because the 31-year-old man suffered fetal alcohol syndrome and had poor impulse control, that he is not competent because of the suicide attempt or that the execution should be delayed until prison officials address concerns that staff are not following rules that protect condemned inmates.
Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey rejected Rhode’s request for a stay, but he ordered the Department of Corrections to make sure Rhode is no longer a danger to himself. The DOC's existing protections did not prevent him from seriously injuring himself, the judge noted. Rhode’s lawyers say a guard gave him a razor and that is what he used to cut himself.disposable razors are given so inmates can shave under supervision and are examined when collected. that is routine and normal.
Rhode had concealed the razor blade he used to cut his neck and arms while lying under a blanket, said Joe Drolet, a lawyer for the state attorney general's office. He was being observed by guards, but they could not see what was happening under the blanket and took action when they saw blood.
"There's not a pattern of recklessly handing out razors to suicidal death row inmates," he said.
A competency hearing that lasted almost 11 hours over two days ended Thursday night in a courtroom at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison.
Before the hearing resumed Thursday afternoon at the prison near Jackson, 50 miles south of Atlanta, Rhode's lawyer filed papers in court contending that Rhode has been subjected to inhumane treatment since his suicide attempt. Kammer wrote Rhode was given no medication for his physical pain or “mental anguish.”that's correct...no mind-altering or narcotic drugs.
He also wrote that once Rhode was returned to prison, he was “dressed in a filthy, old, frayed jumpsuit with blood stains on it” and strapped into a “torture chair.” that would be a restraint chair used to prevent someone out of control from hurting themselves or others.
“The stress and barbarity of his present situation, coupled with his longstanding depression and mental illness, has resulted in Brandon Rhode now experiencing dissociative episodes as his mind tries unsuccessfully to cope with his current physical condition.”
what a complete load.