SC death row inmate’s execution halted over mental health delusions, judge rules

A South Carolina inmate convicted of killing a state trooper more than 25 years ago cannot be executed due to a mental illness that has him believing he is immortal, a judge ruled.

John Richard Wood, 59, lacks the ability to rationally communicate with his lawyers and does not have a rational and factual understanding of his crimes, why he is being punished or the nature of his punishment, Judge Grace Knie found, based on the opinions of three mental health experts, according to WSPA and the South Carolina Daily Gazette.

A psychiatrist with the prosecution as well as a psychiatrist and a psychologist with Wood’s legal team all agreed that he failed this two-pronged legal standard for competence to be executed.

With this ruling, the judge upheld his attorneys’ claim that the debilitating effects of his schizophrenia prevent him from facing the death penalty at this time.

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Knie’s ruling must be reviewed by the state Supreme Court, which could determine whether to uphold or overturn her decision.

The judge said Wood believes that he is immortal, has already died three times on death row and will be resurrected again if the state executes him, citing the mental health experts’ testimony during a hearing in March, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.

Wood also believes he has already received a pardon from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.

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The experts have said that while Wood understands why he received the death sentence, he mistakenly believes law enforcement officers were “trying to frame him for a brutal rape.”

Additionally, Wood believes the judge at his 2002 trial and courtroom personnel were working against him because they were agents of “Beloved Kevin Rudolph,” a deity that he thinks is part of a battle to rule the planet, according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette. Wood also believes he was given wings and immortality to win this fight.

He is the first inmate on death row in South Carolina found to be not competent to be put to death since the state restarted executions in September 2024 after a 13-year pause because the state was struggling to obtain lethal injection drugs. The state added the firing squad as an execution method during that hiatus. Seven executions have been carried out in the state since capital punishment was resumed, including three men who chose to die by firing squad.

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Wood was convicted of killing South Carolina State Trooper Eric Nicholson in December 2000 during a traffic stop in Greenville County. Wood shot Nicholson five times during the traffic stop, according to authorities.

During a subsequent pursuit, he shot at police and hit one officer in the face with a bullet fragment. Wood was eventually taken into custody after he hijacked a truck.

He was sentenced to death in February 2002. He was among death row inmates in line to receive a death warrant after exhausting regular appeals.

While his death warrant is paused, Wood’s original conviction and sentence still stand.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the South Carolina Department of Corrections and Knie’s office for comment.