South Carolina establishes the date for fifth execution in less than 7 months

South Carolina He has scheduled the execution of an inmate condemned for fatally shooting a police officer out of service, which would make him the fifth person that the State killed since he resumed the executions in the fall after an involuntary pause of 13 years.

Mikal Mahdi, 41, will run on April 11 at 6 PM in a prison in Columbia, the State Supreme Court announced on Friday.

Mahdi can choose to die due to lethal injection, the electric chair or a shots squad. You must make a decision before March 28, or will be killed by the electric chair.

On March 7, Brad Sigmon became the first prisoner executed by the execution team in the United States in 15 years when he was killed in South Carolina. Only three other inmates in the United States have been executed by this method since 1976, and they were all in Utah.

Double murderer condemned executed by a shooting squad in South Carolina

Three other prisoners have been executed in South Carolina since the State resumed executions in September. Freddie Owens on September 20, Richard Moore on November 1 and Marion Bowman Jr. on January 31 died by lethal injection. Sigmon chose the shooting team due to concerns about prolonged suffering that the other three inmates had faced when they were killed by lethal injection.

The Court postponed a sixth potential execution for Steven Bixby, who was convicted of the murder of two police officers in a land dispute of the Abbeville County in December 2003. Bixby was at death in May, but the court ruled that a judge must first determine if it is mentally competent.

A psychologist said that Bixby understands what he led to his death sentence, but also believes that the blood found in his clothes the night of the murders contains the DNA of Jesus Christ.

Mahdi’s lawyer, David Weiss, said his client had a long history of problematic behavior starting as a child.

Already in the second degree, Mahdi suffered mental despair and discussed self -harm, Weiss said. He already had a criminal record when he was a teenager, spending weeks in solitary confinement after being convicted of breaking, entering and attacking a police officer in Virginia.

“His own family and the justice system failed him repeatedly, who neglected to see him for what he was: an injured child who needs support,” Weiss said in a statement. “Mikal’s story is trauma, negligence and the many lost opportunities to provide the security and compassion that all children should have.”

Mahdi stole a weapon and a car in Virginia on July 14, 2004, when he was 21, as shown by the arrest records. The next day, he shot and killed an employee of the North Carolina store while the employee reviewed his identification. A couple of days later, the cars put someone at an intersection in Columbia, South Carolina.

On July 18, 2004, while running after those crimes, Mahdi hid in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Public Security officer James Myers’ Shed. Mahdi ambushed Meyers when the officer returned from a birthday celebration for his wife, sister and daughter, prosecutors said.

Myers, 56, was shot eight or nine times, even twice in the head after falling to the ground. A pathologist declared that at least seven of the shots would have been fatal.

Mahdi then set fire to Myers’ body and escaped. Myers’ wife discovered her husband’s body in the shed, who had used for the backdrop of her wedding.

On July 21, 2004, Mahdi was arrested In Florida. When one of the officers involved in his arrest learned for what he was loved in South Carolina, he thanked Mahdi for not shooting him. Mahdi told him that the only reason he didn’t do it was because he was skeptical that he could successfully shoot two officers and his K-9 and go out with his.

While behind the bars, Mahdi was caught three times with tools that he could have used to escape. One was an Allen key and the others were keys of homemade wives, including one that was found under his tongue in his judgment.

In the death corridor, Mahdi stabbed one guard and hit another worker with a concrete block. Three occasions, prison staff found sharp metal in his cell that could be used as a knife.

During his trial, Mahdi’s lawyers said his client was the second son of a woman who was married in a marriage arranged at age 16. His family described a chaotic childhood, although no one testified about abuse or mental illness.

Mahdi declared himself guilty of murder and was sentenced by Judge Clifton Newman, who at that time told The Post and Couer that he was not sure he believed in the death penalty, but the case became bigger than his beliefs.

South Carolina programming executions again after a vacation pause

“My challenge and my commitment throughout my judicial career have been to moderate justice with mercy and try to find humanity in each defendant who drives,” Newman said while transmitting Mahdi’s punishment. “That sense of humanity seems not to exist in Mikal Deen Mahdi”

Once one of the busiest for executions, South Carolina resumed executions in September after a 13 -year pause caused partly by the State that has difficulties in obtaining lethal inject drugs due to the concerns of pharmaceutical companies that they would have to reveal that drugs had sold state officials.

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He State Legislature Then he approved a shield law that allows officials to keep lethal injection drug suppliers deprived. The legislature also approved the shooting equipment as another method of execution on difficulties in obtaining medicines.

South Carolina has executed 47 inmates since the death penalty resumed in the United States in 1976. In the early 2000s, the State carried out an average of three executions per year. Only nine states have killed more inmates.

Associated Press contributed to this report.