Southeast
Mikal Mahdi, South Carolina inmate convicted in two separate 2004 murders, executed by firing squad
South Carolina executed a man by firing squad on Friday after appeals were denied by the state and U.S. Supreme Courts earlier this week.
Mikal Mahdi, 42, was convicted in the 2004 killings of an off-duty police officer in Calhoun County, South Carolina, and a convenience store clerk in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was sentenced to death for the murder of the officer and life in prison for the clerk’s murder.
Mahdi had the choice of dying by lethal injection, the electric chair or firing squad – and he chose the latter. The Associated Press reported that he did not give a final statement nor look at the nine people witnessing his execution before a hood was put over his head and shots were fired by three prison employees who volunteered for the act. He was declared dead less than four minutes later.
Prison officials announced that he requested ribeye steak cooked medium, mushroom risotto, broccoli, collard greens, cheesecake and sweet tea for his last meal.
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Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed on April 11, 2025, for the violent killing of off-duty Orangeburg Public Safety Officer James Myers in 2004. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)
Mahdi was sentenced to death in 2006 after he admitted to killing off-duty Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Capt. James Myers, 56, on his property on July 18, 2004.
Myers had been shot at least eight times and his body was burned when his wife found him in their shed, which was near a gas station where Mahdi attempted to purchase gas with a stolen credit card. He left a vehicle he had carjacked in Columbia at the gas station and was later arrested in Florida while driving Myers’ unmarked police truck.
Mahdi also admitted to murdering convenience clerk Christopher Boggs three days before he killed Myers. Boggs was shot in the head twice while checking Mahdi’s ID, according to The AP.
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Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Capt. James Myers, 56, was violently murdered by Mikal Mahdi on July 18, 2004, at a shed on his property. (SC Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame)
Mahdi’s lawyers entered a final appeal to the South Carolina and the U.S. Supreme Courts, but it was rejected earlier this week.
They argued that Mahdi was not fairly represented by his original lawyers as they did not call on relatives, teachers or other people who knew him during the case, adding that they also ignored how the several months Mahdi spent in solitary confinement as a teen impacted him.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, said Mahdi’s nature was “violence” and said he solved problems with brutality, mentioning how he stabbed a prison guard and hit another worker with a concrete block during his years on death row.
He was also caught with tools that could have been used to escape, including sharpened metal that could have acted as a knife, prison records stated.
Mikal Mahdi was the second death row inmate in South Carolina to be executed by firing squad in the past five weeks. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)
The execution on Friday marked the second time a South Carolina inmate has been put to death by firing squad in the past five weeks and the fifth execution overall in the state over the past eight months.
Following Mahdi’s death, the Palmetto State now has 26 inmates on death row – only one of those people has been sentenced to death in the past decade.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work
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FIRST ON FOX: An illegal immigrant who reported to a U.S. Border Patrol site in Florida to perform some Information technology contractual work was arrested when authorities were made aware of his citizenship status, officials said.
Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan citizen, reported to a USBP center in Dania Beach, Florida, Jan. 6 to do some IT work when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials began vetting him, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital.
During its investigation, it was revealed Camacho was in violation of U.S. immigration laws, authorities said.
Angel Camacho reported to a Florida U.S. Border Patrol center to perform contractual work when he was arrested, a Department of Homeland Security official said. (Getty Images )
“CBP vets all external visitors before allowing them to enter secure facilities to ensure safety and operational integrity,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
“During the vetting process, CBP uncovered this individual was a tourist visa overstay in the country for over five years.”
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This photo shows a U.S. Border Patrol patch on a border agent’s uniform in McAllen, Texas, Jan. 15, 2019. (Suzanne CordeiroAFP via Getty Images)
Camacho was arrested and transferred to ICE custody, Bis said.
His criminal history includes theft and resisting a Florida Highway Patrol officer, officials said. Federal authorities have nabbed several illegal immigrants in the process of trying to obtain employment in law enforcement and education.
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One Sierra Leone citizen was recently arrested as he was training to become a Pennsylvania corrections officer.
Another illegal immigrant, Ian Roberts, served as the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest district, Des Moines Public Schools, before he was arrested by ICE.
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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.
GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.
A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)
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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.
This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.
Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms
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A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.
The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.
The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”
“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”
Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”
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A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.
The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.
“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”
Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.
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A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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