ST. MATTHEWS -- The man who pleaded guilty to the 2004 murder of an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety officer was sentenced to death Friday.

The atmosphere in the courtroom of the Calhoun County Courthouse was somber as 3rd Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Mikal Deen Mahdi, 23, of Lawrenceville, Va. to death in the murder of Capt. James Myers. Mahdi pleaded guilty last week to murder, grand larceny and burglary after officers said they discovered a homemade handcuff key on him.

After taking the bench, Newman called the attorneys and the defendant to stand before him. The prosecution team of 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe and 1st Deputy Solicitor Don Sorensen, the defense team of Glenn Walters and Joshua Koger Jr., and Mahdi took the space in front of the bench.

Newman recounted Mahdi's crime spree. Officials claim he started it by stealing a vehicle in his hometown and further allege he killed a convenience store clerk in Winston-Salem, N.C. They claim he later carjacked a vehicle in Columbia, attempted to use a stolen credit card in Calhoun County and moved on to the "heinous murder of Capt. Myers."

Newman gave the account of Myers' murder in detail.

"Mr. Mahdi forced entry into the shed on Capt. Myers' farm," Newman said. "And Capt. Myers, after visiting his father, went to his farm to the shed where he and his wife were married; the shed which held dreams that they both treasured. Mr. Mahdi shot Capt. Myers nine times, thee times in the head. He then poured diesel fuel on Capt. Myers' body and attempted to burn it, destroying evidence. Then he stole Capt. Myers' truck with weapons in it and fled to Florida where he was finally captured by police in Satellite Beach, Fla."

During testimony, the state alleged that Mahdi knew Myers was a law enforcement officer because of State Law Enforcement Division files Myers' wife, Amy Tripp Myers, kept at the shed. There was some indication that the files had been tampered with.

The prosecutors argued that Mahdi went through the files and knew the shed was owned by at least one law enforcement officer and offered that as an aggravating circumstance allowing the death penalty to be imposed.

Newman found that the state failed to prove that Mahdi knew Myers was a law enforcement officer. He would not grant that as an aggravating circumstance.

Instead, Newman said the aggravating circumstance is the fact that Mahdi committed the crime while armed, and as a convicted felon he should not have had a gun.

"But I strongly considered the evidence the state submitted that showed the defendant's bad character and malignant heart," Newman said. "I also considered the criminal history of the defendant and the fact that he has shown no remorse for any of his actions."

Newman delineated Mahdi's criminal history from his first bout with the law at the age of 14, when he and his father were involved in an eight-hour standoff with Brunswick County law officers in Virginia.

"After that incident, he told an official from the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice that his only strength was robbing people," Newman said. "We heard in testimony that a year later, during another arrest, he made the comment that he would kill a cop before he died.

"At 17 years old, during an arrest for vandalism for slashing his mother's tires, he attempted to take an officer's gun and made the comment that he should have killed the crazy bitch, referring to his mother," Newman recounted. "In 2001, he stabbed a maintenance supervisor five times at an apartment complex he was attempting to burglarize. Nothing lessens his culpability for his actions."

Newman said by murdering Myers, Mahdi robbed his family and community of a husband, father, son, grandfather and a friend.

"Capt. Myers was a treasured jewel to humanity," Newman said. "Mr. Mahdi robbed his family of their enjoyment of a peaceful life.

"I seek to find the humanity in every defendant. That humanity was not evident in Mr. Mahdi. The state and the defense are entitled to justice. The defense seeks mercy, the same mercy that Capt. Myers sought. Extinguishing the life of Capt. Myers in such a malicious manner, Mr. Mahdi extinguished any mercy he might have gotten in court.

"The only appropriate punishment in this case is death. The evidence warrants the imposition of the death penalty. It is the judgment of the law and the sentence of this court that Mikal Deen Mahdi should be held by the Department of Corrections and on Feb. 8, 2007 you shall suffer death. May God have mercy on your soul."

Mahdi stood without showing any emotion as the judge pronounced his fate. He simply filed out of the courtroom, flanked on either side by the deputies who became his companions during the nine days that brought him to this point in his life.

After Newman pronounced Mahdi's sentence, Pascoe said this was one of the most unusual trials he has been involved with.

"I have participated in hundreds of murder trials," Pascoe said. "And none of the defendants have had a colder heart than I saw in Mahdi.

"He would clearly continue to be a danger to others. He's always trying to find ways of escaping. Death was the only possible sentence in this case. The only thing the defendant had going for him was that the judge was looking for ways to give him mercy, but because is his actions and attitude, none could be found. This was the only possible outcome."

T&D Staff Writer Thomas Brown can be reached by e-mail at tbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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