In Columbia, South Carolina, a man named Mikal Mahdi is slated to become the fifth individual to be executed in the state since the death penalty resumed last fall after a 13-year hiatus. The state’s Supreme Court announced on Friday that Mahdi’s execution is scheduled for April 11 at 6 p.m. in Columbia.
Mahal Mahdi is guilty of murdering an off-duty police officer. Another potential execution, that of Steven Bixby, was postponed. Bixby was convicted of killing two officers in a land dispute in December 2003. His execution was delayed so a judge could determine his mental competence. Although a psychologist confirmed Bixby understood his death sentence, his belief that Jesus Christ’s DNA was in the blood on his clothing at the time of the killings suggested otherwise.
At 41, Mahdi faces the choice between lethal injection, electrocution, or a firing squad. Should he not decide by March 28, the electric chair will be used. Brad Sigmon was the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to be executed by firing squad on March 7.
Since September, three other prisoners have been executed: Freddie Owens on Sept. 20, Richard Moore on Nov. 1, and Marion Bowman Jr. on Jan. 31—all by lethal injection.
Mahdi’s turbulent past started in childhood, his lawyer David Weiss explained, detailing his long history of troubled behavior. By second grade, Mahdi was afflicted by mental issues and had discussed self-harm. As a teenager, his criminal behavior escalated, leading to stints in solitary confinement for breaking and entering and assaulting a police officer in Virginia. Weiss wrote, “Mikal 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.”
In 2004, a spree of crimes led to the homicide of a public officer. Mahdi stole a car and gun in Virginia on July 14, fatally shot a North Carolina store clerk the next day, and then carjacked an individual in Columbia, South Carolina, on July 17.
While hiding in the shed of James Myers, a public safety officer, Mahdi ambushed Myers on July 18 when he returned from a family birthday celebration. Myers, aged 56, suffered eight or nine gunshots, with at least seven being deemed fatal. Mahdi then set the officer’s body on fire before fleeing.
On July 21, 2004, Mahdi was apprehended in Florida. When officers confronted him for a different crime, Mahdi admitted he didn’t try to shoot the officers involved because he didn’t think he could successfully hit both and their dog and escape.
Further evidence of his violent tendencies emerged during imprisonment, with multiple incidents involving tools that Mahdi could have used for an escape attempt, as well as aggressive acts against prison staff, including stabbing a guard.
In court, Mahdi’s attorneys highlighted his troubled family life, mentioning that he was the son of a woman who had been part of an arranged marriage at 16, and depicted a chaotic upbringing void of reported abuse or mental health diagnoses common in death penalty cases.
Choosing to plead guilty, Mahdi was sentenced by Judge Clifton Newman, who expressed internal conflict over the death penalty. Despite Newman’s general philosophy to balance justice with mercy and recognize humanity in defendants, he found that such humanity seemed absent in Mahdi.