South Carolina carried out a firing squad execution on Friday, April 11, after both the state and U.S. Supreme Courts denied appeals earlier in the week.
Mikal Mahdi, 42, was convicted of two murders committed in 2004: the killing of an off-duty police officer in Calhoun County, South Carolina, and the murder of a convenience store clerk in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For the officer’s murder, he received a death sentence, while the clerk’s murder resulted in a life imprisonment sentence, according to the Associated Press.
Mahdi was given a choice for his execution: lethal injection, the electric chair, or a firing squad. He chose the latter. According to the AP, he declined to give a final statement and avoided eye contact with the nine witnesses present. Once a hood was placed over his head, three prison employees, who had volunteered for the task, carried out the execution. Less than four minutes later, he was pronounced dead…