Share this @internewscast.com
A second South Carolina death row inmate has chosen execution by firing squad.
Mikal Mahdi, 41, will be put to death on April 11 after pleading guilty to murder for killing a police officer in 2004.
“Confronted with cruel and degrading choices, Mikal Mahdi opted for what he saw as the least harmful,” stated one of his attorneys, David Weiss. “Mikal decided on the firing squad rather than enduring burning and mutilation in the electric chair, or experiencing a prolonged death by lethal injection.”
On March 7, Brad Sigmon elected to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina, becoming the first inmate in 15 years in the U.S. to face such a method. He was declared dead by a doctor in just under three minutes after being hit by three bullets.
This image, provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections, displays the state’s execution chamber in Columbia, S.C., featuring the electric chair on the right and a firing squad chair on the left. (South Carolina Department of Corrections/AP)
Myers, 56, was shot eight or nine times, including twice in the head after falling to the ground. A pathologist testified that at least seven of the shots would have been fatal.
Mahdi then set Myers’ body on fire and ran away. Myers’ wife discovered her husband’s dead body in the shed, which they had used for the backdrop of their wedding.
Brad Sigmon was convicted of beating to death his estranged girlfriend’s parents in Greenville County in 2001. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)
On July 21, 2004, Mahdi was taken into custody in Florida.
Fox News’ Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
