I watched my client's execution by firing squad. He chose it after three lethal injection executions left men lingering on a gurney for 20 minutes.

A second South Carolina death row inmate has asked to die by firing squad just five weeks after the state carried out its first death by bullets. Mikal Mahdi chose the firing squad Friday. His execution is scheduled for April 11.

Mikal Mahdi, who killed a South Carolina police officer during a multi-state crime spree, has chosen to die by firing squad. He is only the second person to choose to die this way since it was added as a method of execution by the state legislature in 2021.