SOUTH CAROLINA EXECUTION OF MIKAL MAHDI
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mikal Deen Mahdi was executed in South Carolina on April 11, 2025, by firing squad, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Mahdi, 42, was convicted of murdering Orangeburg Public Safety Captain James Myers in 2004. He had been on death row for nearly two decades.
Authorities said Mahdi was involved in multiple violent crimes in 2004 across several states, including Virginia and North Carolina, before the killing of Myers in South Carolina. He was arrested shortly after Myers’ death and later pleaded guilty to capital murder.
Mahdi was sentenced to death following his conviction. His case went through multiple appeals in state and federal courts over the years, all of which were ultimately unsuccessful.
South Carolina law permits execution by firing squad under certain circumstances. The state resumed use of the method following legislative changes allowing inmates to choose between execution methods when lethal injection drugs were unavailable.
On the day of the execution, officials said Mahdi was pronounced dead after being shot by a firing squad at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.
Mahdi’s attorneys had previously raised arguments during appeals related to his background and the circumstances of the crimes, but courts upheld the conviction and sentence.
Members of the victim’s family witnessed the execution, according to prison officials. No final statement from Mahdi was released by authorities.
The case drew renewed attention to South Carolina’s capital punishment procedures, including the use of the firing squad as an execution method.
Mahdi’s execution marks one of the most recent uses of the firing squad in the United States.
