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South Carolina Inmate Chooses Firing Squad for Execution
A second inmate on death row in South Carolina has opted for execution by firing squad. Mikal Mahdi, 41, is scheduled to be executed on April 11, following his guilty plea for the murder of a police officer in 2004.
In a statement, Mahdi’s attorney, David Weiss, remarked on the grim options available to inmates, asserting, “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils. Mikal chose the firing squad instead of being burned and mutilated in the electric chair or suffering a lingering death on the lethal injection gurney.”
Mahdi will be the second person executed by firing squad in South Carolina in recent weeks. Brad Sigmon was executed on March 7, marking the first firing squad execution in the United States in 15 years. Reports indicate that Sigmon was declared deceased less than three minutes after encountering three gunshots.
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Mahdi is scheduled for execution at 6 p.m. in a correctional facility located in Columbia, South Carolina. This method of execution has seen minimal use nationally, with only three other inmates having been executed by firing squad in the United States since 1976, all of whom were executed in Utah.
Mahdi’s criminal history began on July 14, 2004, when he stole a gun and a vehicle in Virginia at the age of 21. The following day, he fatally shot a North Carolina store clerk while attempting to verify his identity. A few days later, Mahdi carjacked an individual at an intersection in Columbia, South Carolina.
On July 18, while evading capture, Mahdi sought refuge in the shed of public safety officer James Myers in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Prosecutors claim that Mahdi ambushed Myers as the officer returned home from a birthday gathering with his family.
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James Myers, aged 56, was shot multiple times, including twice in the head, as he fell to the ground. Medical testimony indicated that at least seven gunshot wounds would have been fatal. Following the shooting, Mahdi reportedly set Myers’ body ablaze before fleeing the scene. Myers’ spouse later found her husband’s remains in the shed, which had also served as a backdrop for their wedding.
Mahdi was apprehended in Florida on July 21, 2004, just days after the violent events surrounding Myers’ murder.
In a separate context, Brad Sigmon had previously been convicted of the brutal killings of his estranged girlfriend’s parents in Greenville County in 2001.
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