Condemned killer faces Monday execution

ATLANTA – A condemned killer has a reprieve – for now.

The Supreme Court of Georgia on Friday granted Brandon Joseph Rhode, 31, a “short-term” stay of execution until 4 p.m. Monday, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an application from Rhode for a stay of execution. Rhode is now scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. on Monday.

Rhode faces death for the 1998 slaying of an 11-year-old boy, his 15-year-old sister and the children’s father. He was sentenced in 2000.

Rhode was initially scheduled to die Tuesday, but the Supreme Court of Georgia granted a stay following an apparent suicide attempt. He was then scheduled to be executed at 9 a.m. Friday – a time that was delayed until 7 p.m. Friday and finally postponed until Monday following the Supreme Court of Georgia’s order.

Currently, there are 103 inmates on death row in Georgia, according to state numbers. If executed, Rhode would be the 25th inmate executed by lethal injection in the state, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

A Jones County Superior Court judge ordered Rhode’s execution be carried out between Sept. 21 and Sept. 28.