A South Carolina death row inmate who murdered a state trooper in 2000 cannot be executed because severe schizophrenia has left him believing he is a 300-year-old immortal who will resurrect after death, a judge ruled. The April 22 decision marks the first time South Carolina has deemed an inmate mentally incompetent for execution since resuming capital punishment in September 2024.

Delusions Block Death Penalty

Judge Gracie Knie upheld defense attorneys’ arguments that John Richard Wood’s mental illness prevents him from understanding his punishment. During a two-day March hearing, mental health experts testified that Wood believes he has already died three times on death row and expects to resurrect again. While hospitalized in a state psychiatric facility, Wood told staff he was a U.S. Army Ranger who had lived for three centuries and would soon be released as a free man.

Defense psychiatrist Dr. Amanda Salas described the bizarre nature of evaluating Wood. “The more I talk, the more crazy I feel in saying these things,” Salas testified. “None of it makes sense, and that’s just the persistence and the well-developed nature of his delusional systems.” Two additional experts, including a state psychiatrist, confirmed that rational conversation with Wood proved extremely difficult due to his illness.

Trooper’s Murder on Interstate

Wood was convicted of murdering South Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Eric Nicholson on Interstate 85 in Greenville in 2000. Nicholson radioed dispatch about stopping a moped, activated his lights and sirens, then screamed over his radio. Responding troopers found Nicholson shot five times. Witnesses reported seeing a weapon in Wood’s hand as he fled the scene on his moped before carjacking a Jeep. Citizens who pursued Wood provided police with the vehicle’s tag number, leading to his arrest.

Death Penalty Complications

South Carolina paused executions for 13 years partly due to difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs before resuming capital punishment in September 2024. Wood represents the first case since that resumption where severe mental illness has prevented an execution from proceeding. The legal standard requires inmates to rationally understand both the fact of their impending execution and the reason for it. Wood’s delusions about immortality and resurrection indicate he cannot grasp the permanent nature of death, making execution constitutionally prohibited under current Supreme Court precedent regarding mentally incompetent defendants.