Death row killer who claims to be ‘immortal’ avoids execution at final moment | US | News

A death row inmate who believed himself ‘immortal’ was saved from execution at the eleventh hour.

John Richard Wood, 56, claims to have died before and been resurrected three times.

He was scheduled to be executed after spending more than 25 years behind bars for the murder of a state trooper in the US state of South Carolina, but was ruled too mentally ill to continue.

In December 2000, Wood shot and killed Eric Nicholson during a traffic stop. He was captured after fleeing the scene and opening fire on police, wounding another police officer.

Three mental health experts concluded that he was not competent to be executed because he could not understand why he faced punishment.

Wood suffers from schizophrenia and believes himself immortal; He claims that he has already been executed on three separate occasions. The presiding judge announced that he believed Wood would be brought back to life if the state carried out his execution.

He also mistakenly believes he received a pardon from the governor.

During his trial in 2002, Wood was convinced that he was acting as an agent of ‘Dear Kevin Rudolph’, a god whom the courtroom believed was engaged in a war for control of the planet.

The court heard the convicted murderer believed he had ‘wings’ and was given immortality so he could prevail in his ‘fight’ against the justice system.

The judge, supported by two psychiatrists and a psychologist, ruled that Wood could not be executed due to serious mental illness. While Wood accepts the reasoning behind the original death sentence, he claims police ‘conspired to brutally rape’ him.

The judge’s decision will now be sent to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which has the authority to confirm or overturn the ruling.