THE EXECUTION OF A MAN in the US has been delayed after the man attempted suicide hours before he was due to be killed by lethal injection.

AP reports that lawyers for convicted murderer Brandon Joseph Rhode, 31, are now challenging the death sentence on grounds of mental competency.

Georgia’s supreme court has delayed the execution until 9am tomorrow to allow his lawyers to file their claim.

Rhode was convicted of murdering Steven Moss, 37, and his two children, during a burglary in 1998. His co-accused was also convicted and sentenced to death. He has not been executed, but remains on death row.

Rhode’s legal team argues that the suicide attempt shows he was “incompetent” and execution would be cruel and unusual punishment, according to AP. It says he was “utterly terrified” of the execution.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) says his lawyer alleges Rhode is mentally impaired because his teenage mother drank during the early months of pregnancy.

Defence lawyer Brian Kammer told AJC: “This situation has evolved into a level of cruelty that is just plainly unconstitutional. It’s become a kind of circus of pain. It is severe mental stress and mental terror has been inflicted on him and that’s not the way we’re supposed to treat people”.

Virginia Execution

Meanwhile, the state of Virginia is today preparing to execute the first woman in almost 100 years. An appeal for the execution of Teresa Lewis, 41, has been rejected by the US Supreme Court, according to the Washington Post.

Lewis admitted to arranging the murder of her husband and stepson in 2002 and was convicted, then sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Her lawyers had argued that her execution would be unconstitutional due to her low IQ, which they say puts her in the “borderline mental retardation” range.

Virginia’s governor, Robert M Donnell said that no medical experts had determined mental retardation, says the Washington Post.