South Carolina Schedules Execution of Inmate Convicted of Killing Off-Duty Police Officer
South Carolina has scheduled the execution of an inmate convicted of fatally shooting an off-duty police officer. This would mark the fifth execution in the state since it resumed capital punishment in the fall after a 13-year hiatus.
Mikal Mahdi, 41, is set to be executed on April 11 at 6 p.m. at a prison in Columbia, the state Supreme Court announced on Friday. Mahdi has the option to choose between lethal injection, the electric chair, or a firing squad. He must decide by March 28; if he does not, he will be executed by the electric chair.
On March 7, Brad Sigmon became the first prisoner in the U.S. to be executed by firing squad in 15 years. Only three other inmates in the U.S. have been executed by this method since 1976, all in Utah.
Since South Carolina resumed executions in September, three other prisoners have been put to death: Freddie Owens on September 20, Richard Moore on November 1, and Marion Bowman Jr. on January 31, all by lethal injection. Sigmon chose the firing squad due to concerns about the prolonged suffering experienced by the other inmates during lethal injection.
The court has postponed a potential sixth execution for Steven Bixby, who was convicted of killing two police officers in a 2003 land dispute in Abbeville County. Bixby was scheduled to be executed in May, but the court ruled that a judge must first determine his mental competency. A psychologist stated that Bixby understands his death sentence but also believes that blood found on his clothes the night of the killings contains the DNA of Jesus Christ.
Mahdi’s attorney, David Weiss, described his client’s troubled history, which began in childhood. Mahdi exhibited signs of mental distress as early as the second grade and had a criminal record by his teenage years, including convictions for breaking and entering and assaulting a police officer in Virginia.
“He was repeatedly failed by his own family and the justice system, who neglected to see him for who he was: a wounded child in need of support,” Weiss said in a statement. “Mikal’s story is one of trauma, neglect, and the many missed opportunities for providing him the safety and compassion that every child should have.”
Mahdi’s crimes escalated in July 2004 when, at age 21, he stole a gun and a car in Virginia. He later shot and killed a North Carolina store clerk and carjacked someone in Columbia, South Carolina. On July 18, 2004, while on the run, Mahdi hid in the shed of Orangeburg public safety officer James Myers. He ambushed Myers, shooting him eight or nine times, including twice in the head, and then set his body on fire.
Mahdi was arrested in Florida on July 21, 2004. While in custody, he was caught multiple times with tools that could be used for escape and was involved in violent incidents, including stabbing a guard and striking another worker with a concrete block.
During his trial, Mahdi’s lawyers highlighted his chaotic childhood, though no one testified about abuse or mental illness. Mahdi pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced by Judge Clifton Newman, who expressed doubts about the death penalty but stated that the case transcended his personal beliefs.
South Carolina, once one of the busiest states for executions, resumed capital punishment in September after a 13-year pause caused in part by difficulties obtaining lethal injection drugs. The state legislature passed a shield law to protect the identities of drug suppliers and approved the firing squad as an alternative execution method.
Since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976, South Carolina has executed 47 inmates. In the early 2000s, the state carried out an average of three executions per year. Only nine states have executed more inmates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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