A South Carolina man, Mikal Mahdi, was executed by firing squad for killing an off-duty police officer. This is the second time this method has been used in the state in five weeks. Mahdi, who chose this method over lethal injection or the electric chair, did not give a final statement before he was shot, and he cried out as the bullets hit him. He was pronounced dead less than four minutes after the shots were fired.
Mahdi admitted to killing the officer, James Myers, and burning his body in 2004. He was also responsible for the killing of another man in North Carolina and has a history of violence, including assaulting guards while on death row. His lawyer claimed that Mahdi had a troubled childhood, but prosecutors argued that violence was inherent in his nature.
The execution of Mahdi marks the end of a series of executions in South Carolina, which had previously paused executions for over a decade. The state has resumed executions using various methods, including lethal injection, nitrogen gas, and now, the firing squad. Mahdi’s lawyer criticized the execution as a horrifying act that does not belong in a civilized society.
South Carolina currently has 28 inmates on death row, with only one person sentenced to death in the past decade. The state passed new laws to allow for executions to resume, including keeping suppliers of execution drugs secret and protecting the identity of prison employees involved in the process.
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