Mikal Mahdi, a death row inmate in South Carolina, has opted for execution by firing squad, marking the second instance of such a choice in the state within a span of five weeks. Mahdi, 41, was convicted for the murder of a police officer in 2004 and is slated for execution on April 11. He had the option of lethal injection, electric chair, or firing squad. The last execution in the state was that of Brad Sigmon, who also chose death by firing squad on March 7.
David Weiss, one of Mahdi’s attorneys, stated that his client had chosen the “lesser of three evils.” Weiss explained that Mahdi preferred the firing squad over the electric chair, which he described as a method of “burning and mutilation,” or lethal injection, which he characterized as a “lingering death.”
In July 2004, Mahdi ambushed James Myers, a public safety officer in Orangeburg, in his shed in Calhoun County. Myers had just returned from a birthday celebration for his wife, sister, and daughter. His wife later discovered his body, which had been shot at least eight times, including twice in the head, in the shed that had served as the backdrop for their wedding just over a year prior.
Mahdi will be positioned 15 feet from three prison employees who volunteered for the firing squad. A target will be placed on his chest, and the live rounds in their rifles will shatter upon impact with his rib cage. In the past half-century, only three other U.S. inmates, all in Utah, have been executed by firing squad. Sigmon was the first inmate to be executed by bullets in the U.S. since 2010.
Mahdi’s legal team has lodged a final appeal with the state’s highest court, arguing that his original trial, which lasted only 30 minutes, was inadequate. They claim that his defense team failed to call any witnesses who could testify on his behalf. Several defense lawyer organizations have filed briefs supporting this argument, stating that no one should be executed after such a minimal effort to defend them.
Mahdi’s lawyers also argue that his judgment was affected by the months he spent in isolation in prison as a juvenile, which they claim altered his developing brain. After Mahdi pleaded guilty to murder, Judge Clifton Newman sentenced him to death, stating that he could not find a sense of humanity in Mahdi that he usually tries to find in every defendant.
Prosecutors countered the claim of inadequate defense by pointing out that Mahdi was able to present more evidence during a 2011 appeal, which was held inside a prison due to Mahdi’s previous attempt to escape by stabbing a death row guard. The appeal was ultimately rejected.
Mahdi has one last chance to avoid execution. He can request Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole just minutes before his scheduled execution at 6 p.m. on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. However, no South Carolina governor has granted clemency in the 47 executions in the state since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. in 1976.