The shooters were standing 15 feet away...
Mahdi was sentenced to death in 2006, and the execution was carried out on 11 April [2025]. On the evening of his killing, Mahdi was brought into the state’s execution chamber, strapped to a chair and had a red bullseye target placed over his heart. Witnesses were positioned behind bulletproof glass, and three prison employees on the firing squad stood roughly 15ft (4.6 metres) away.Officials placed a hood over Mahdi’s head before the staff fired, according to an Associated Press reporter, who was a witness. As shots were fired, Mahdi cried out and his arms flexed, and after roughly 45 seconds, he groaned twice, the AP said. His breaths continued for around 80 seconds, then a doctor examined him for a minute. He was declared dead roughly four minutes after the shots.South Carolina regulations call for the shooters to fire bullets “in the heart … using ammunition calculated to do maximum damage to – and thereby immediately stop – the heart”.But the autopsy report commissioned by the SCDC indicates there were only two gunshot wounds, not three, and that the bullets largely missed his heart before hitting his pancreas, liver and lower lung, Mahdi’s lawyers say.
Text from The Guardian. Details re the case at Associated Press.
There is a well established phenomenon where even soldiers in battle will shoot over or under their target. The theory being that even in that moment, there is a repulsion at the idea of killing someone. I can imagine that three volunteer guards, likely barely trained (if such a thing is possible) would struggle to be accurate in the moment at any range. I wonder how much trauma support they'll get after.
ReplyDeleteNone of this is to excuse it. Execution is barbaric and needs to be abolished. IMHO
I'm going to guess misplacement of the target, which was apparently affixed to his clothing rather than to his bare chest.
ReplyDeleteCould be, but the error at "15 feet away" seems excessive. Measuring on myself, that is 6-8 inches low. I have friends who target-shoot with far greater accuracy at far longer distances, and I know teenagers who routinely shoot 22-caliber rifles more accurately. There does not seem to be any mechanical or physics-based explanation. It could be poor technique ("squeeze the trigger") but that seems unlikely for individuals with even basic training. The missing bullet is particularly notable for telling us that something is deeply wrong with the protocol.
DeleteThat said, I would eliminate the death penalty rather than spend any thought on improving the methods.
I have a dim memory (probably from the 80s or 90s) of a show that described how one facility’s firing squad setup worked. In the description they had three rifles that were fixed and aimed with no contact from the operators. Separate from that was a console with three buttons that were pressed simultaneously by three “executioners”, only one of which was connected. This was intended to give each emotional deniability from having fired the shots.
ReplyDeleteIt could also have been a thought exercise in school. Considering the wide range of readers here, I could believe that someone will either remember the same thing or know why I’m not remembering correctly.
Again, down with the death penalty.
It seems to me that if we wanted to do this "right," we'd have a portable device with three barrels containing .22 hollow points (so as not to blow a hole in the back of the guy, though it might). It would be rolled up close to the person--a distance from which it would be virtually impossible to miss--and then there would be three buttons (only one working) so that the three guys who push the buttons never really know who made the fatal decision.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that some people MUST be "put down." Not because we hate them, but because, like a rabid dog, they must be put down for the safety of others. In other cases, we execute them because they simply do not deserve to live (think of those who have raped and killed small children). Again, it might not be for hate, but it might be done for closure and societies protection. After all, if you put them in prison, there may eventually come along a governor who decides to release them. That must not happen...IF IF IF we KNOW that they killed someone.
It is utterly ludicrous to put someone in prison for 20-25 years BEFORE we get around to doing what should have been done when it would have had maximum deterrent value. If people can hardly remember the crime, it doesn't do much good. It's just a "fact" in the newspaper.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 (King Solomon): “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
"...some people must be put down..." Support for the death penalty is certainly well founded in Old Testament Christianity. As is slavery, rape, genocide, etc. Though I never will understand Christians defaulting to the Old testament when the New Testament is the basis of the whole belief system. I guess we can blame Constantine for all this, as there's no reconciling the pacifist, renunciation promoting Jesus of the Gospels and the state--and so we get cognitive dissonance ad infinitum. Leo Tolstoy spent his last, and best (IMO), 20 years examining this subject.
Delete"if you put them in prison, there may eventually come along a governor who decides to release them." If we've learned anything lately, it's that the power of the pardon should not be vested in a single person. Let an independent panel make recommendations, and the governor or president only be able to select from those recommendations.
DeleteIf I'm ever executed, I'll request a FIVE man firing squad.
ReplyDeleteI think I would prefer the head rather than the heart, were it necessary.
ReplyDeleteI live in South Carolina and trust me they can screw up an anvil.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Never heard that one. Looked it up and found this: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fuck%20up%20an%20Anvil
DeleteIt is ironic that in a country where the police is not capable of simply counting how many people they quite happily kill, an actual firing squad is filled with people who do mind killing. Based on police behavior, it should not be hard to find a couple of people who would be happy to do the deed.
ReplyDeleteYes, those are despicable people, but then again, so is the whole idea of the death penalty.
Also, there is no need to argue for the death penalty, because the ultimate argument against the death penalty is the fallibility of the justice system. And we know the justice system makes a lot of mistakes. Morally, that should be the deciding argument. A lot of people happily ignore the risk that they get wrongly convicted to death because they enjoy the idea of others being executed.
Oddly, many of those think they're christian.