South Carolina lawmakers push investigation into firing squad death of inmate

After claims were made by executed inmate Mikal Madhi's lawyers, lawmakers are looking for answers.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — An upstate lawmaker is calling for an investigation into South Carolina's most recent death penalty case. Mikal Mahdi was executed by firing squad last month, the second time in the state's history. Rep. Neal Collins (R) - Pickens County, was one of two lawmakers who sent a letter to state leaders, urging them to look into the firing squad method. He says there is no way to investigate the deaths afterward.

"There were only two entry wounds, for the executed, the executed was, did not die immediately. For 45 seconds to a minute, [Mahdi] had made indications that he was still alive," he says. Those red flags in Mikal Mahdi's autopsy report motivated Collins to join a push by Rep. Justin Bamberg (D) - Bamberg, in calling for an investigation into his firing squad execution. "The death is supposed to be immediate. And in this case, it was not. So what arises is that in future executions, people to be executed can certainly bring up constitutional issues. And the state supreme court or the U.S. Supreme Court could rule that it, an execution by firing squad, is unconstitutional," Collins says.

The state department of corrections told WYFF News last week that all 3 bullets struck Mahdi's heart, and that the autopsy report shows no exit wounds.

"I personally don't find that credible. But regardless of whether I find that credible or not, we don't have any protocol afterwards to prove who was right," Collins says.

He is hoping state leaders can take a harder look at how executions are run in South Carolina, which could result in another delay in capital punishment cases. "I don't believe that the state should go forward on executions by firing squad. Specifically, without a study into what occurred in this situation," he says.

Source: wyff4.com, Nate Stanley, May 13, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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