Mikal Mahdi
South Carolina Set to Execute Mikal Mahdi for Killing Off-Duty Officer
By James Seidel | CC News Network
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Department of Corrections is set to carry out its fifth execution since reinstating the death penalty after a 13-year pause, with Mikal Deen Mahdi scheduled to die on April 11, 2025, at 6 p.m. The state Supreme Court announced the execution date on Friday, confirming Mahdi’s place among a growing list of condemned inmates facing their final sentences under the state’s revived capital punishment system.
Mahdi, 41, has been given the choice between lethal injection, electrocution, or a firing squad—the same method chosen by Brad Sigmon, who, on March 7, became the first U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad in 15 years. If Mahdi fails to choose by March 28, he will be executed in the electric chair.
This comes as South Carolina continues to accelerate executions, with three other inmates—Freddie Owens, Richard Moore, and Marion Bowman Jr.—put to death in recent months.
A Trail of Violent Crimes Leading to Death Row
Mahdi’s violent crime spree began in July 2004, when he stole a gun and a car in Virginia. Just one day later, he executed a North Carolina store clerk, shooting the man in the face as he checked Mahdi’s ID.
On July 17, 2004, Mahdi carjacked someone at an intersection in Columbia, South Carolina, as he attempted to evade authorities. But his most heinous crime came one day later, when he hid inside the shed of Orangeburg public safety officer James Myers.
When Myers, 56, returned home from celebrating a family birthday, Mahdi ambushed him, shooting him eight or nine times, including twice in the head as he lay on the ground. Prosecutors noted that at least seven of the shots were fatal.
Mahdi then set Myers’ body on fire before fleeing. Myers’ wife later discovered his burned body inside the same shed that had been the backdrop for their wedding less than 15 months earlier.
Mahdi was captured three days later in Florida. When an officer involved in his arrest thanked him for not opening fire, Mahdi’s response was chilling—he only refrained because he didn’t think he could successfully kill two officers and their dog without getting caught.
A History of Violence Behind Bars
Mahdi’s violent tendencies didn’t end with his arrest. He has been caught at least three times with escape tools, including an Allen wrench and two homemade handcuff keys—one of which was found under his tongue during his trial.
While on death row, Mikal Mahdi stabbed a guard, attacked another with a concrete block, and repeatedly hid sharpened metal weapons in his cell, according to court records.
Unlike other death penalty cases, Mahdi’s defense team did not present evidence of childhood abuse or severe mental illness, though his lawyers highlighted his troubled upbringing. His mother was wed at 16 in an arranged marriage, and his childhood was described as chaotic.
His attorney, David Weiss, argued that Mahdi was a “wounded child in need of support” but was failed by his family and the justice system. Weiss noted that Mahdi began exhibiting self-harm tendencies as early as second grade and had already spent time in juvenile detention for violent offenses by his teenage years.
Judge Clifton Newman’s Role in the Case
Mikal Mahdi made the rare decision to plead guilty to murder and have a judge—rather than a jury—determine his sentence. That judge was Clifton Newman, who later gained national recognition for presiding over the Alex Murdaugh murder trial.
At the time, Newman admitted he was personally unsure about the death penalty but felt the case demanded it.
“My challenge and my commitment throughout my judicial career has been to temper justice with mercy and to seek to find the humanity in every defendant that I sentence,” Newman said during sentencing. “That sense of humanity seems not to exist in Mikal Deen Mahdi.”
South Carolina’s Executions Resume Amid Controversy
Mahdi’s execution will be the fifth since South Carolina resumed capital punishment in September 2024, following a lengthy legal battle over lethal injection protocols and the state’s ability to carry out executions by electrocution and firing squad.
His case stands in contrast to another pending execution, that of Steven Bixby, a man convicted of killing two police officers in Abbeville County in 2003. While Bixby was initially scheduled for execution in May, the South Carolina Supreme Court delayed his case pending a mental competency evaluation.
A psychologist evaluating Bixby determined that while he understood why he was sentenced to death, he also believed that blood found on his clothes the night of the murders contained Jesus Christ’s DNA.
The decision to move forward with Mahdi’s execution underscores the state’s commitment to capital punishment, even as opponents raise concerns about mental illness, childhood trauma, and systemic failures that contribute to violent crime.
Final Thoughts
With South Carolina’s death row shrinking, Mikal Mahdi’s execution marks another milestone in the state’s renewed enforcement of capital punishment. His case highlights a lifetime of violence, from a troubled youth to a cold-blooded killer who showed no remorse for his crimes.
As the April 11 execution date approaches, the debate over the death penalty in South Carolina will no doubt continue, but for the family of Officer James Myers, this day has been a long time coming.
James Seidel – Publisher, Journalist, Author. Investigator, Podcaster, Radio Talk Show Host, and Music Producer.
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