COLUMBIA, SC - A legal team for Mikal Mahdi, an inmate who was executed by a firing squad on April 11th for killing an off-duty police officer in 2004, has filed a complaint with the South Carolina Supreme Court saying that the three-person firing squad execution was botched.
According to NBC News, the filing, which took place on Thursday, May 8th, contained a report from forensic pathologist Dr. Jonathan Arden, who reviewed Mahdi's autopsy and photographs of the gunshot wounds and bullet fragments. The attorneys claim that only two of the bullets struck Mahdi and that they largely missed his heart in such a way that he suffered long enough to violate the Eighth Amendment of cruel and unusual punishment.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) said that the autopsy found all three bullets struck Mahdi's heart, and that other statements are "interpretations" of what the examination showed. In their notice, Mahdi's legal team wrote, "The causes of this botch are unknown. Did one member of the execution team miss Mr. Mahdi entirely? Did they not fire at all? How did the two who did shoot Mr. Mahdi miss his heart?"
Mahdi's autopsy that was commissioned by the SCDOC and performed by Dr. Marcus Bradley, showed that the inmate only had two gunshot wounds, even though three bullets were simultaneously fired. There were no exit wounds.
Bradley noted that one wound, labeled gunshot wound A, represented the pathway of two gunshots — meaning that two bullets entered through the same exact hole. Arden, who has four decades in forensic pathology, called this "extraordinarily uncommon." In his report, he wrote that even if both bullets had the same entrance wound, it would be "larger and more irregular in configuration," than a typical wound of one projectile."
The autopsy photograph of Mahdi's wounds showed "two typical gunshot wounds," Arden found. He said that he spoke with Bradley on April 24th, who told him that he took the photograph of the gunshot wounds to "document the unexpected finding." Arden's report said, that Bradley "acknowledged that such an occurrence would be 'remote' in his estimation.'"
A third doctor, forensic pathologist Dr. Carl Wigren, reviewed the autopsy for NPR, and concluded that the odds of two bullets entering through the exact same entrance wound were "pretty miniscule." The SCDOC noted that there were no bullet fragments found in the execution room.
Arden compared Mahdi's wounds to Brad Sigmon's, the first inmate in South Carolina to be executed by the firing squad in the state on March 7th. His execution marked the first death by firing squad in the United States in the past 15 years. Arden noted that photographs from Sigmon's autopsy showed three separate entrance wounds, all in the center-left of the chest and visibly higher than Mahdi's wounds.
David Weiss, one of Mahdi's attorneys said, "The autopsy confirms what I saw and heard. Mikal suffered an excruciating death. We don't know what went wrong, but nothing about his execution was humane."
At Mahdi's execution, a witness reporter from the Associated Press (AP) wrote that Mahdi cried out as the shots hit him, his arms flexed. The report stated, "He groaned two more times about 45 seconds after that. His breaths continued for about 80 seconds before he appeared to take one final gasp."
The SCDOC autopsy said the bullets struck Mahdi's heart in the right ventricle as well as his diaphragm, left live lobe and pancreas. All of those are areas of the lower chest and abdomen. Compared to Sigmon's entrance wounds, which were all in the left-center of his chest, Mahdi's were visibly lower.
Arden said Bradley noted he thought the entrance wounds would be higher in the chest and "did not expect to find such severe damage to the liver." Weiss said, "Mikhal's heart was left almost completely intact," indicating that is what caused the inmate's prolonged death. He said, "That's not to say that it was missed entirely."
Arden's report concluded, "Both the forensic medical evidence and the reported eyewitness observations of the execution corroborate that Mr. Mahdi was alive and reacting longer than was intended or expected."
According to NBC News, the filing, which took place on Thursday, May 8th, contained a report from forensic pathologist Dr. Jonathan Arden, who reviewed Mahdi's autopsy and photographs of the gunshot wounds and bullet fragments. The attorneys claim that only two of the bullets struck Mahdi and that they largely missed his heart in such a way that he suffered long enough to violate the Eighth Amendment of cruel and unusual punishment.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) said that the autopsy found all three bullets struck Mahdi's heart, and that other statements are "interpretations" of what the examination showed. In their notice, Mahdi's legal team wrote, "The causes of this botch are unknown. Did one member of the execution team miss Mr. Mahdi entirely? Did they not fire at all? How did the two who did shoot Mr. Mahdi miss his heart?"
Mahdi's autopsy that was commissioned by the SCDOC and performed by Dr. Marcus Bradley, showed that the inmate only had two gunshot wounds, even though three bullets were simultaneously fired. There were no exit wounds.
Bradley noted that one wound, labeled gunshot wound A, represented the pathway of two gunshots — meaning that two bullets entered through the same exact hole. Arden, who has four decades in forensic pathology, called this "extraordinarily uncommon." In his report, he wrote that even if both bullets had the same entrance wound, it would be "larger and more irregular in configuration," than a typical wound of one projectile."
The autopsy photograph of Mahdi's wounds showed "two typical gunshot wounds," Arden found. He said that he spoke with Bradley on April 24th, who told him that he took the photograph of the gunshot wounds to "document the unexpected finding." Arden's report said, that Bradley "acknowledged that such an occurrence would be 'remote' in his estimation.'"
A third doctor, forensic pathologist Dr. Carl Wigren, reviewed the autopsy for NPR, and concluded that the odds of two bullets entering through the exact same entrance wound were "pretty miniscule." The SCDOC noted that there were no bullet fragments found in the execution room.
Arden compared Mahdi's wounds to Brad Sigmon's, the first inmate in South Carolina to be executed by the firing squad in the state on March 7th. His execution marked the first death by firing squad in the United States in the past 15 years. Arden noted that photographs from Sigmon's autopsy showed three separate entrance wounds, all in the center-left of the chest and visibly higher than Mahdi's wounds.
David Weiss, one of Mahdi's attorneys said, "The autopsy confirms what I saw and heard. Mikal suffered an excruciating death. We don't know what went wrong, but nothing about his execution was humane."
At Mahdi's execution, a witness reporter from the Associated Press (AP) wrote that Mahdi cried out as the shots hit him, his arms flexed. The report stated, "He groaned two more times about 45 seconds after that. His breaths continued for about 80 seconds before he appeared to take one final gasp."
The SCDOC autopsy said the bullets struck Mahdi's heart in the right ventricle as well as his diaphragm, left live lobe and pancreas. All of those are areas of the lower chest and abdomen. Compared to Sigmon's entrance wounds, which were all in the left-center of his chest, Mahdi's were visibly lower.
Arden said Bradley noted he thought the entrance wounds would be higher in the chest and "did not expect to find such severe damage to the liver." Weiss said, "Mikhal's heart was left almost completely intact," indicating that is what caused the inmate's prolonged death. He said, "That's not to say that it was missed entirely."
Arden's report concluded, "Both the forensic medical evidence and the reported eyewitness observations of the execution corroborate that Mr. Mahdi was alive and reacting longer than was intended or expected."
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Comments
2025-05-15T17:17-0400 | Comment by: CRAIG
I for one could not care less if he suffered. Maybe we should use a guillotine instead. There would be no doubt about if he suffered.
2025-05-15T18:23-0400 | Comment by: Jon
I'm sorry, this miscreant lived much longer than he should have. Something tells me the cop he murdered suffered far more than he did.
2025-05-17T14:30-0400 | Comment by: Michelle
Did the victim this criminal killed get the same concern? If criminals knew they were going to be killed in the same manner as their victims, we’d have a lot less murders.