The state of South Carolina today issued a death warrant for Mikal Mahdi (pictured), scheduling his execution for April 11, 2025. He will be the fifth man executed by the state in the last seven months.
Mahdi’s crimes were committed when he was 21-years-old. David Weiss, Assistant Federal Public Defender at the Capital Habeas Unit for the Fourth Circuit, which is part of the Federal Public Defender’s Office in the Western District of North Carolina, issued the following statement on behalf of Mikal’s legal team:
“Today, the state of South Carolina took a devastating step toward executing Mikal Mahdi for two tragic murders he committed when he was just 21 years old, and after he endured years of abuse and trauma as a child.
By the time he was nine years old, Mikal was already expressing suicidal thoughts and mental despair – the first of many heartbreaking signs of how desperately he needed help.
Instead of help, Mikal was repeatedly failed by his own family and the justice system. The people who should have supported Mikal neglected to see him for who he was: a wounded child in need of support. Making matters worse, as a teenager, Mikal spent hundreds of hours in solitary confinement in youth prisons.
The justice system failed Mikal Mahdi. His story is one of trauma, neglect, and the many missed opportunities for providing him the safety and compassion that every child should have. Yet his sentencing judge heard less than 30 minutes of testimony about Mikal’s tragic upbringing. We hope to show the courts that the justice system, in repeatedly overlooking Mikal’s humanity, denied him the fair trial he needed and deserved.
We urge the state of South Carolina to review his case, including the abuse he suffered as a child, his struggles with mental health, and the trauma that marred his life and propelled him towards violence.”
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