In South Carolina, autopsy records reveal corrections officers botched the execution of Mikal Mahdi, who was killed by firing squad last month. Mahdi’s three executioners missed his heart, hitting his abdomen, and causing him “excruciating conscious pain and suffering for about 30-60 seconds.” He was pronounced dead nearly four minutes after the officers fired. Mikal Mahdi’s lawyers said he selected the firing squad method over lethal injection and the electric chair because he believed it would be the “lesser of three evils.”