I was Mikal Mahdi’s third-grade teacher. South Carolina should spare him from the death penalty | Opinion

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi this month.

A bare description of his crimes might make that seem justified: In 2004, Mikal murdered Christopher Boggs, a store clerk in North Carolina. He then traveled to South Carolina, where he hid in a building on a farm owned by Orangeburg Public Safety Capt. James Myers. When Capt. Myers came across Mikal, Mikal shot and killed him. Mikal set Capt. Myers’ body on fire then fled to Florida, where he was arrested. Five years later, Mikal and another inmate seriously wounded a corrections officer.

These were horrible acts. There’s no excuse for them. I cannot begin to imagine how much pain Mikal caused, not only to the victims, but their families, too.

But there is more to Mikal, and to his story.

I knew Mikal when he was in third grade. He was 9 years old and had just been released from a psychiatric hospital, where he had been committed after saying he wanted to kill himself. Since I often worked with troubled children, I was chosen as Mikal’s teacher for that school year.

Despite his serious mental health challenges, Mikal wasn’t so different from my other kids who needed extra support. He misbehaved at times, but he also responded to care.

Initially withdrawn and apprehensive, Mikal gradually opened up to me. Over time, when I hugged him, he began to hug me back. His deep intelligence and creativity emerged. He showed promise in art, writing and poetry. When shown patience and consistency, his talents were ready to flourish.

I wish that this was the beginning of Mikal’s story. That he built on the progress he began with me and went on to thrive. Tragically, that’s not what happened.

After leaving my classroom, Mikal was thrust back into a nightmare. At 10 years old, Mikal was sent to Virginia to live with his father, who was mentally unwell. When Mikal’s teachers suggested special education services, his dad decided to “homeschool” him instead. As it turned out, this consisted of survivalist training in the woods. Not surprisingly, Mikal started to get into trouble with the law.

By 14, he was sentenced to juvenile prison for property crimes. From that point forward, Mikal spent most of his life in prison, including thousands of hours in solitary confinement. This torture only deepened Mikal’s despair. When he killed Mr. Boggs and Capt. Myers, Mikal was only 21 years old.

Today, I serve my Baltimore community as a pastor instead of as a schoolteacher. When contemplating all of the pain Mikal suffered and caused, I turn to my faith.

In Luke 6:36-37, Jesus says, “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father is also merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”

God has endless mercy for us, and not because we get it right all the time. He shares his love with all his children no matter our circumstances, no matter our mistakes.

Mercy, I believe, is a universal value that transcends even faith. It’s never easy to find empathy for someone who has harmed others. Mikal himself did not show mercy.

But Mikal is more than a murderer. He is also the anguished third grader who needed love and compassion. He is the confused child ripped from school and left in the wilderness. He is the frightened teenager isolated and brutalized in our prisons.

We should remember all of these Mikals before we condemn the man who sits on death row. If we do, perhaps we, too, can be merciful.

Sparing Mikal Mahdi from the death penalty would send a powerful message to all of the other wounded children like him: We know you were fragile, and that you were broken. We will never stop caring for you. And we will always believe you can be better than the worst thing you’ve ever done.

This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "I was Mikal Mahdi’s third-grade teacher. South Carolina should spare him from the death penalty | Opinion."