Update 3: A reporter for The Post and Courier recounts Reed's final moments, an excerpt:
I heard the sound of a metallic thud, similar to a gasoline pump handle that snaps off when the tank is full.

Reed's chest arched out. His hands clenched and trembled. Then his body slumped. His pinky fingers wrapped around the edge of the chair's arms.

He was still.

The victims' family remained silent and expressionless.

Update 2, June 21 at 12:38 a.m.: News outlets report that the appeals failed, and Reed has been executed. He was pronounced dead at 11:27 p.m.

Update 1: The Post and Courier reports that a temporary stay of execution has been requested by lawyers unaffiliated with the case. The Post and Courier states:
Speaking by phone, Fielding Pringle, a private practice attorney, said the group filed the intervener based on Thursday's U.S. Supreme Court decision that it's unconstitutional to allow a mentally ill person to represent himself in court.

Reed may yet be executed tonight. Check back for updates.

Reed Original post: James Earl Reed will be executed tonight at 6 for the 1994 shooting deaths of the parents of his ex-girlfriend in their Adams Run home.

His trial was marked by his difficult-to-get-along-with nature, his low IQ just above mild retardation, and self representation during the trial.

Reed wrote to The Associated Press in 2003 that he would not ask the governor for clemency, a final meal or make a last statement. He will be the third person to opt for the electric chair since the state switched to lethal injections in 1995, and he will be the 280th person to be executed by the state since 1912 (when the state took over executions).