Mikal Mahdi
Mikal Deen Mahdi, 42, was a man whose attorney, David Weiss, said his childhood was shaped by an abusive father who was mentally ill. His family and attorneys asked the courts and Governor Henry McMaster to consider how that childhood had shaped him, and advocates delivered clemency petitions to the governor on April 10, 2025. South Carolina executed him by firing squad on April 11, 2025, at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, the second person in the state to die by that method. His attorneys said the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final emergency appeal, and they called his death a cruel end to a story of systemic neglect.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: Vocal.media roundup of 2025 U.S. executions (reporters); Mahdi's defense team (family or their lawyers).