COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A firing squad executed a South Carolina man on Friday, marking the second use of this rare execution method by the state in just five weeks.
Mikal Mahdi, 42, did not give a final statement and did not acknowledge the witnesses present behind bulletproof glass once the curtain opened.
Witnesses reported that Mahdi cried out as the shots struck him, with his arms flexing in response to the impact.
A white target emblazoned with a red bull’s-eye over Mahdi’s heart was then pushed into the wound in his chest.
About 45 seconds later, he groaned two more times, and his breathing continued for approximately 80 seconds before he seemed to take one final gasp.
A doctor evaluated him for just over a minute before declaring him dead at 6:05 p.m., less than four minutes after the firing squad initiated the execution.
Mahdi had opted for death by three bullets to the heart instead of lethal injection or the electric chair.
On March 7, Brad Sigmon had been executed in the first firing squad death in the U.S. in 15 years, and only the fourth such execution since 1976, with the prior incidents occurring in Utah.
The firing squad execution method has a violent history globally, utilized for various forms of punishment including mutiny in military ranks, as frontier justice in America’s Old West, and as a tool for terror in nations like the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
In light of difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs, South Carolina lawmakers deemed the firing squad the quickest and most humane execution method available.
Volunteers comprised the three shooters who fatally harmed Mahdi.
His execution marks the fifth carried out by South Carolina within less than eight months as the state processes inmates whose appeals have run out following an unintentional 13-year halt on executions.
Mahdi’s death is also noted as the 12th execution in the U.S. this year, with a total of 25 inmates executed in nine states throughout 2024.
Execution methods vary by state, as Alabama and Louisiana have opted for nitrogen gas, while Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas have employed lethal injection.
South Carolina has now utilized both the firing squad and lethal injection for the executions within its jurisdiction.
For his final meal, Mahdi requested ribeye steak cooked medium, mushroom risotto, broccoli, collard greens, cheesecake, and sweet tea, as reported by prison officials.
The crime committed by Mahdi is a grave one; he admitted to the 2004 murder of Orangeburg Public Safety officer James Myers, shooting him multiple times before ultimately incinerating his body.
Myers’ wife discovered her husband in their Calhoun County shed, a location that held significance as the backdrop for their wedding merely 15 months prior.
Mahdi had sought gas at a nearby station using a stolen credit card shortly before the murder, leaving behind a carjacked vehicle from Columbia.
His apprehension in Florida occurred while driving Myers’ unmarked police truck.
Additionally, Mahdi confessed to killing Christopher Boggs, a convenience store clerk in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, just three days before Myers’ murder.
Boggs was shot twice in the head as he verified Mahdi’s ID, resulting in a life sentence for Mahdi in that case.
An appeal made by Mahdi in the week preceding his execution was rejected by both the U.S. and South Carolina Supreme Courts.
His legal team argued that Mahdi’s original attorneys neglected to present a robust case to save his life, failing to call witnesses who could speak to his character, such as family members and teachers, and disregarding the repercussions of his prolonged solitary confinement as a teenager.
The defense’s case, advocating for Mahdi’s life, took only around 30 minutes in court, which his lawyers labeled as “superficial” and reminiscent of a truncated television drama episode.
Mahdi’s early memories were riddled with trauma, including witnessing his father violently attack his mother and later deceiving his son about her death.
Mahdi’s father withdrew him from school when officials suggested he required behavioral assistance, exacerbating Mahdi’s struggles.
Prosecutors described Mahdi as someone who resorted to violence to address his conflicts, citing incidents that occurred while he was imprisoned on death row – including stabbing a guard and assaulting another worker with a concrete block.
Mahdi’s prison records indicate he was apprehended three times while in possession of makeshift escape tools, such as a sharpened metal object that could function as a knife.
“The nature of the man is violence,” the prosecution stated.
David Weiss, Mahdi’s attorney and assistant federal public defender, contended that his client was a product of a failed system, a belief that spans from Mahdi’s childhood all the way to his execution.
Weiss described the execution as a “horrifying act” that is more befitting the darkest chapters of history rather than a civilized society.
Mahdi’s death concluded a busy period in South Carolina’s death chamber, with five inmates executed since September after no executions had taken place since 2011.
Although there are no inmates currently on death row, several are nearing the end of their appeals process.
The state resumed executions after legislative changes that included the reinstatement of the firing squad and a bill concealing the identities of pentobarbital suppliers and the exact protocols used in executions, as well as the names of prison staff involved in the process.
In addition to Mahdi and Sigmon, three other South Carolina prisoners have been executed via lethal injection since September.
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