Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed by firing squad, the second execution in South Carolina this year using the controversial method

Mikal Mahdi was the second man in South Carolina to be executed by a three-person firing squad on April 11, after admitting to killing an off-duty police officer in 2004.

A pathologist hired by attorneys for death row inmates says a South Carolina man executed by firing squad was conscious and likely in extreme pain for as long as a minute.