Federal court halts scheduled S.C. execution

(CNN) - Within minutes of the time he was scheduled to die in the electric chair, a South Carolina man was given a reprieve Friday when a federal court ordered his execution halted, saying his case deserved review in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued Thursday.

James Earl Reed had been set to die at 6 p.m. ET for killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 1994. Reed had chosen to be electrocuted, and would have been the first person to die in South Carolina's electric chair since 2004.

Reed represented himself during his murder trial. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a separate case, ruled that a state has the right to prevent a possibly schizophrenic man from defending himself.