A 42-year-old man convicted of two murders in 2004, Mikal Mahdi, chose a firing squad to carry out his death sentence. However, a legal complaint submitted by his lawyers alleges that his execution was “botched,” as the bullets failed to hit his heart, causing him to suffer “excruciating” pain before dying.
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According to NBC News, Mahdi’s legal team filed the complaint on Thursday, May 8. It came almost a month after Mahdi was executed on April 11. In the complaint, lawyers allege that, after reviewing their client’s autopsy, his execution was botched.
As reported by The Guardian, Mahdi originally opted for death by firing squad over the lethal injection or the electric chair “based on the assumption that SCDC could be entrusted to carry out its straightforward steps.” These steps include locating Mahdi’s heart, placing a target over it, and hitting the target.
The legal team alleges that only two out of the three bullets fired ended up striking Mahdi. The bullets, however, allegedly miss the Mahdi’s heart target. If proven true, this could potentially constitute cruel and unusual punishment, as per Mahdi’s attorneys.
As a result, what was supposed to be a quick death lasting 10 to 15 seconds resulted in a much longer and “excruciating” death. An Associated Press reporter wrote that Mahdi cried out as soon as the bullets hit his body.
“He groaned two more times about 45 seconds after that,” the reporter stated. “His breaths continued for about 80 seconds before he appeared to take one final gasp.”
Contrasting Autopsies
The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC), however, commissioned its own autopsy that revealed that all three bullets hit Mahdi’s heart. However, only two gunshot wounds were found in Mahdi’s body. Dr. Marcus Bradley, the doctor who performed the autopsy for SCDOC, noted that two bullets entered through the same hole.
Dr. Jonathan Arden, a forensic pathologist hired by Mahdi’s legal team, reported that this was “extraordinarily uncommon.” Bradley and a third doctor commissioned by NPR, Dr. Carl Wigren, agreed that it was highly improbable that two bullets would end up entering through the same wound.
David Weiss, one of Mahdi’s attorneys, went on to claim that his client’s heart was “almost completely intact.”
“The implications are horrifying for anyone facing the same choice,” Weiss told NBC News. “South Carolina’s refusal to acknowledge their failures with executions cannot continue.”
Mikal Mahdi was the second inmate to be executed in 2025. On March 7, 2025, Brad Sigmon, a man who murdered his girlfriend’s parents in 2001, died by firing squad. Mahdi became the fifth man to die by firing squad since 1976.