The execution of South Carolina's shooting squad raises questions about human death

Columbia, SC – The execution of Mikal Deen Mahdi in South Carolina in South Carolina In May 2025, the examination is drawn nationwide after newly released autopsy findings interpret that the process was botched up, which led to a longer and painful death. Mahdi, who chose the execution by dismissal from the discharge of other methods that were permitted by law, was the second person who has been carried out in South Carolina since the method was reinstated in 2021.

“You have largely missed our client's heart,” said Mahdi lawyer David Weiss and referred to the official state autopsy, which was presented to South Carolina's Supreme Court on May 8. According to the report, Mahdi only has two gunshot wounds instead of the three expected three. The balls missed the intended target area above the heart and instead beat the liver and other inner organs and extended Mahdi's death.

The autopsy findings are in a sharp contrast to the execution of Brad Keith Sigmon, the first firefighter of South Carolina in March. NPR reported that Sigmon's autopsy was documented in detail, including more than 20 photos, X -rays and a complete analysis of clothing. In Mahdi's case, however, only one photo of his torso was made available to his legal team. No X -rays or additional pictures were published.

Mahdi's lawyers asked whether all members of the firing squad had released their weapons. “It is not entirely clear what happened,” said Weiss in comments on NPR. “Didn't one of the armed men fired? Was her gun was jammed? She missed? We just have no idea at that time.”

After a second statement by the forensic pathologist Dr. Jonathan Arden were the two -observed wounds of similar size, which gave doubts about the state's explanation that two balls came through a single entry point. Arden came to the conclusion that Mahdi probably experienced 30 to 60 seconds of conscious pain and suffering.

“A massive bath is exactly what happened,” Mahdi's lawyers argued in court documents. “This trust was clearly laid.”

The law of South Carolina is currently protecting the execution staff from public disclosure. According to the official protocol of SCDC, “Three members will be behind the wall … a small target point is placed over his heart … [and] After the supervisor has read the execution order, the team will fire. “In Mahdi's case, however, this protocol seems to have failed.

South Carolina again stopped the firing squad as an alternative execution method after he had procured difficult injection medication for years. The constitutionality of the method was previously confirmed by the state's highest court on the condition that pain would not take more than 10 to 15 seconds – “unless there is a massive meal of the execution in which each member of the firing squad simply misses the heart of the occupant.”

This scenario now seems to have appeared. Accordingly NPRWitness accounts indicate that Mahdi moaned for 45 seconds and breathed further over 80 seconds after the cuffing.

The incident has sparked the national debate about execution methods. Robert Dunham, director of the project for the death penalty policy, warned: “South Carolina's botched firing cadrees should remind the opponents of the death penalty not to play the dangerous game in order to find out which direction method can meet the order required by our constitution. None can.”

In an article for slateThe legal scientist Austin Sarat described the illusion of a “human” execution as a continuing imagination in the American case law. “Last week we learned another hard lesson over executions,” wrote Sarat. “The autopsy showed that the shooting button botched up the execution … With shooters, the target area of ​​the heart of the man was missing, which caused him to suffer a longer death.”

Despite earlier academic and legal notes of the firing squad as a more humane option, the Mahdi case can mark a turning point. In 2015, Justice Sonia Sotomayor indicates that indicates that a properly carried out firing squad could be more reliable and less painful than the fatal injection. But Sarat argues that the Mahdi version shows exactly the opposite: “There is no fool -safe way to kill someone.”

Professor Deborah Denno from Fordham Law School, a leading expert for execution methods, which was previously referred to as “comparatively painless” and “relatively quickly”. In Mahdi's case, however, these assumptions fell apart. Mahdi believed that the firing squad would be a safer, less agonizing alternative. Instead, it became a dark case study in the human mistake.

According to the law of South Carolina 2021, convicted people must choose between electric shock, fatal injection or firing squad. Mahdi selected the latter with legal uncertainty and concerns about the reliability of the other methods.

In 2022, the Supreme Court of the State confirmed the constitutionality of the firefighting method and found that death, if the shots were correctly carried out, were almost instant. “But that was always a best scenario,” said Sarat. “This case shows what happens if this best case does not apply.”

The shield law adopted in 2023, which protects the identity of the execution staff, has also brought criticism. Proponents argue that the lack of transparency has contributed to the abuse of the execution of Mahdi and makes the accountability almost impossible.

Since the legal team prepares a likely challenge of the eighth change, there are questions about whether a method of execution of the constitution of the constitution can counter “cruel and unusual punishment”.

In the past 125 years, the United States has turned through execution methods such as slope, gas chambers, electric chairs, fatal injections and now again on the firing squad. With every new method there is a new promise of humanity and dignity. And with every method, the botched versions exist.

“We already knew from witness reports that he moaned for about 45 seconds and continued for around 80 seconds.” slate reported. “The autopsy suggested that the balls that Mahdi killed had a” downward “trajectory that mostly missed the heart.”

Rights experts and abolition agents argue that the Mahdi case is further confirmation that government executions cannot be perfected.

“The death penalty in the United States is maintained by an imagination and an illusion,” Sarat wrote. “What happened to Mahdi should remind the opponents of the death penalty, not to play the dangerous game to find out which execution method can do the order required by our constitution. None can.”

As states such as Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah, the firing cadres remain in the books, South Carolina's abuse of Mahdi death is a frightening warning. The only certainty is for the time being that Mikal Deen Mahdi died a slow, painful death from a system that claimed that it was quick and human.

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Austin Sarat Brad Keith Sigmon David Weiss Deborah Denno Jonathan Arden Mikal Deen Mahdi Robert Dunham SC Oberster Court SCDC SOTOMAYOR