South Carolina Firing Squad Execution Described as Botched

South Carolina carried out a firing squad execution of Mikal Mahdi, 42, on April 11, 2025 - its second such execution in just over a month. Mahdi was pronounced dead four minutes after the shots were fired. His legal team and independent forensic pathologists have called the execution botched, alleging the bullets missed his heart and instead struck lower organs, causing him to bleed out slowly. Eyewitnesses reported he cried out, flexed against restraints, and groaned audibly for approximately 45 seconds; his breathing continued for 80 seconds. The state Department of Corrections disputed the characterization.

The Shot Placement Dispute

A white target with a red bullseye was placed over Mahdi’s heart before three prison employees fired rifles in unison behind bulletproof glass. The state-commissioned autopsy claimed all three bullets struck the heart, and suggested two may have passed through the same wound. Independent forensic pathologist Dr. Jonathan Arden, hired by Mahdi’s legal team, concluded the wounds were lower on the chest and likely missed the heart entirely, instead damaging the liver and internal organs. A second pathologist, Dr. Carl Wigren, called the odds of two bullets sharing a single wound “pretty minuscule.”

Adding to scrutiny, only one autopsy photo was publicly released for Mahdi’s case - compared to three separate wound photos released for Brad Sigmon, executed by firing squad one month earlier. No X-rays or bullet fragments were provided to Mahdi’s attorneys.

Background and Legal Aftermath

Mahdi was sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of off-duty public safety officer Captain James Myers, whom he shot nine times and set on fire inside a shed. He was also convicted of two additional murders and multiple violent felonies. Multiple appeals and a clemency plea - supported by former teachers and advocates - were declined by Governor Henry McMaster and the U.S. Supreme Court. In a letter written before his death, Mahdi reportedly wrote: “I’m guilty as hell… What I’ve done is irredeemable.”

Mahdi’s attorneys filed a formal notice with the South Carolina Supreme Court calling the execution a violation of the state’s constitutional ban on cruel or unusual punishment. South Carolina’s Supreme Court had previously ruled the firing squad constitutional, noting prolonged suffering would only occur “unless there is a massive botch.” Mahdi’s team argued that is precisely what occurred. No further executions were scheduled in South Carolina at the time of reporting; 25 inmates remain on the state’s death row.

References: LEFT TO DIE: Firing squad ‘botched’ death row execution as inmate suffers ‘excruciating’ death bleeding out strapped to chair | S.C. inmate’s firing squad execution was ‘botched,’ with bullets mostly missing his heart, lawyers say | A firing squad tried to shoot a prisoner in the heart. They missed, autopsy indicates