Anish Vij
A death row inmate who was executed by a method only used five times in 50 years took his last breath on Friday (11 April).
Mikal Mahdi was put on death row after claiming the lives of two people in Virginia in 2004.
The now-42-year-old murdered shop worker Christopher Jason Boggs, 29, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on 15 July 2004, and then two days later, killed off-duty police officer James Myers, 56.
Mahdi, who was also a prime murder suspect in another criminal case but never charged due to prior convictions, went on the run for four days before he was arrested.
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Ahead of his execution last night, he was given a choice between lethal injection, the electric chair or the firing squad, with Mahdi opting for death by firing squad - making him the second person to be executed via this method in the past month.
As reported by AP, Mahdi gave no final statement and did not make eye contact with the nine witnesses in the room who were behind bulletproof glass.
There was a 45-second gap between when the hood was put on his head and when the shots were fired by three volunteers at 6pm.
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The three volunteers were standing about 15 feet (4.6 meters) apart from one another.
Mahdi reportedly cried out when he was shot, whilst his arms were flexed, AP reports. The inmate then groaned twice and took his final breaths before being declared dead at 6.05pm by a on-sight doctor.
"Mikal Mahdi was a smart, creative, intellectually curious person who could have done so much more with his life. He just never got the chance," his lawyer, David Weiss, said in a statement.
"Tonight, the state of South Carolina executed him by firing squad – a horrifying act that belongs in the darkest chapters of history, not in a civilised society. We love Mikal and will miss him deeply.
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Weiss said that his client 'died in full view of the system that failed him at every turn – from childhood to his final breath'.
"Mikal’s life was a testament to systemic neglect, and his death was its final, cruel punctuation mark," he added.
During the trial, prosecutor David Pascoe told jurors that Mahdi is 'the epitome of evil'.
"His heart and mind are full of hate and malice," the prosecutor said.
Prior to Mahdi's execution, Brad Sigmon, 67, was the last person who was put to death by firing squad on 7 March at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.