ST. MATTHEWS -- The prosecution Tuesday put the finishing touches on the portrait they've been painting of the man charged with murder in the 2004 shooting death of an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety officer.

The prosecution team, 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe and 1st Deputy Solicitor Don Sorensen, brought in staff members from the S.C. Department of Corrections to tell of their dealings with Mikal Deen Mahdi, 23, of Lawrenceville, Va. Mahdi faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty for charges of murder, grand larceny and burglary in the shooting death of Capt. James Myers.

Janet Driggers, a grievance officer with SCDC, testified Mahdi issued a threat to her on a form that he had filled out. Then in a disciplinary hearing, he verbally threatened to kill her. The court was presented with an audiotape of the threat against Driggers.

Capt. Gary Lane, also of the SCDC, testified Mahdi is being housed in an area that is reserved for "the worst of the worst prisoners." He said Mahdi is among the six worst inmates in the SCDC.

Other officers were brought in to tell 3rd Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman about the contraband -- rope, pieces of metal -- that has been found in Mahdi's possession. Calhoun County Sheriff Thomas Summers testified about a homemade handcuff key that was found in Mahdi's pocket in the courthouse this past Wednesday.

"He (Mahdi) said he kept the key in his mouth," Summers told the court. "He said he made it at the Department of Corrections before he came down here for trial. I tested the key and it failed to open the first pair of handcuffs I tried. But it opened two other pairs."

Summers said Mahdi told him he made the handcuff key out of metal from a vent in his cell. He said Mahdi told him he ground the key on the floor of his cell.

Life without Myers

Further driving home the impact that Myers' death had on his family and friends, prosecutors called Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Chief Wendell Davis, Myers' daughter, Meredith Myers Firestone, and his father, E.L. Myers to the witness stand.

Davis told the court he met Myers when he came to ODPS to take the position of chief. He said Myers was a conscientious officer.

"He was a lieutenant when I first came here," Davis said. "We were going through some restructuring and he became a captain. He became a friend and a confidante to me."

"Where were you when you found out about his death?" Pascoe asked.

"I was at Myrtle Beach at a conference," Davis said. "I got the call that Capt. Myers had been killed and I was devastated. It was too shocking to wrap my mind around. I gathered myself to tell Mike Adams. They were very close.

"We got back to Orangeburg as quickly as possible," Davis said. "One of the SLED (State Law Enforcement Division) agents drove us back. We were in no shape to drive ourselves."

Davis said Myers supervised training operations for ODPS. He said the young officers always came to depend on his advice, personally and professionally.

"His loss left a tremendous void for us that we haven't overcome," Davis said. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about Capt. Myers."

E.L. Myers told the court his son visited him every day. He said the two of them were always close, but when Myers' mother died, they became even closer.

"Jimmy was my only son," Myers said. "My wife and I had only two children, Jimmy and his sister Jan. He was a good boy. He never smoked or drank and we always knew where he was. He was very obedient."

Pascoe asked Myers to show the court some of the treasured mementos he had of his son. He produced a family portrait and the program from Capt. Myers' graduation from the Police Academy.

Myers told the court his son came by his house every morning to have coffee with him and always came by in the evening to check on him. "The thing that I remember most about the last time I saw him was his big smile," Myers said. "I walked him out to his car and he looked at me with a great big smile."

Myers said he doesn't sleep well any more and he now has to have an oxygen tank with him at all times.

"I'm a World War II veteran," Myers said. "Losing Jimmy is worse than anything in the war. To see justice done in this case is what keeps me going."

Myers' daughter, Meredith Myers Firestone, took the stand and told the court of her relationship with her father.

"I was his only child," she said. "I was definitely a daddy's girl. He was a firefighter when I was a child and he worked 24 hours on and he had 48 hours off. So we spent a lot of time together. He taught me to fish and hunt and how to build a perfect fire in the fireplace. I was the son he never had."

When Pascoe asked Firestone to recount the night she found out her father had been killed, she lost her composure momentarily and told the story through her tears.

"I was at the beach and had visited my aunt down there," Firestone said. "My Aunt Jan drove over to the beach house where I was staying and told me my father had been murdered. My legs went limp and I fell to the floor. It's so sad because we were just embarking on an adult relationship where he was a friend as well as dad. He had so much wisdom that he wanted to share with me. He got to see one of his grandchildren. It hurts that they won't get to know him."

Nine gunshots

Dr. Janice Ross of the Newberry Pathologists Associates testified to the findings of the autopsy performed on Myers. She told the court that when the body arrived at their laboratory, Myers' shirt was partially burned, spots on the back of his head were singed and there was a strong smell of diesel fuel.

"He had nine gunshot wounds," Ross said. "There were three to his head. Two of them went from the top of his head to the base of his skull, indicating that they were shot either while he was down or slumping."

She said the wounds to his head all hit his brain and would have caused immediate unconsciousness. The wound to his chest hit his lung and his heart.

"The cause of death was laceration of the brain due to gunshot wounds to the head," Ross said. "Only two of the nine shots that his body sustained were not potentially fatal."

Members of the Myers family and friends were seated on the front seat of the courtroom behind the prosecutors. Ross' testimony was obviously disturbing to them. Myers' sister, Jan Myers, and his daughter, Firestone, wiped their eyes hearing of the state of his body upon arrival at the laboratory. Myers' widow, Amy Tripp Myers, and his father sat stoically.

The state rested its case with Ross' testimony.

The defense

The defense attorneys, Glenn Walters and Joshua Koger Jr., called only two witnesses, James Aiken, director of James Aiken and Associates Inc., an independent consulting firm specializing in penal institutions and inmates, and Marjorie Hammock, an independent social worker. One assessed Mahdi's future and one assessed his past.

Aiken painted a bleak picture for Mahdi's future, no matter the sentence he receives in the case now before the court. He told the court that to come to his conclusions, he reviewed Mahdi's records from penal institutions and assessed his individual behavior in the community and in confined settings. Newman admitted Aiken as a prison adaptability expert with no objection from the prosecution team.

"Is the S.C. Department of Corrections able to handle Mr. Mahdi?" Walters asked.

"Yes sir," Aiken said. "There are systems in place and operational to handle prisoners such as the defendant. Keep in mind, we're not preparing him to be a good person in society. There will always be a gun between him and society.

"He will be watched 24 hours a day seven days a week," Aiken said. "And he will be constantly reassessed. "

Addressing the issue of contraband that has been found in Mahdi's possession, Aiken rated what has been found as unimportant.

"I've seen prisoners make everything from swords to explosives, even liquor stills," he said. "The things we've heard that Mr. Mahdi had are common. Inmates are constantly trying to beat the system."

"What is your assessment of Mr. Mahdi from a prison administrator's perspective?" Walters asked.

"He is a boy who has gotten himself in big trouble that will affect him for as long as he lives," Aiken said. "Now, he will stay in prison and he'll get older and weaker. With his immature behavior of trying to beat the system, he'll find that the system will beat him.

"Checking his records, I found no affiliation with gangs," Aiken said. "That means he's not a person who can control anything in prison. He has no backing. When he realizes what kind of environment he will be in, he'll probably become self-mutilating or suicidal. The system is not going to change for him. They will control his behavior with gas, electrical shock or restraints. Those methods are used every day to control unruly prisoners. If he goes to prison, he will go to one where they control behavior absolutely."

Hammock put together a psychological portrait of Mahdi by interviewing him and several members of his family, and by reviewing his school records. She uncovered a bleak and hopeless past. She would say later, "He never had a chance."

From the witness stand, Hammock told the court that Mahdi's parents were married in an arranged marriage when his father was 27 years old and his mother was 16. She said his mother eventually fled the family because of the abuse heaped upon her by Mahdi's father.

"She abandoned the family when Mr. Mahdi was about 3 years old," Hammond said. "She left Mr. Mahdi and his older brother for the father to raise. The father never finished high school and did odd jobs to try to take care of his family but continually failed. He became bitter and angry."

Eventually Mahdi's father sent his sons to live with relatives, Hammond said. Mahdi went to his uncle in Baltimore, where he spent two years.

"School records showed Mr. Mahdi to be a bright student, but he had difficulty reading," Hammond said. "The insecurity within the family setting would account for that difficulty, to some degree. He ended up back with his father and became subject to his father's conflicts with the community. His father continually had disagreements with neighbors and other members of the community.

"Early in his life when he needed it most, Mr. Mahdi didn't get the consistent help from his mother or father that children require," Hammock said. "Because of the abuse, neglect and abandonment issues, he is likely to end up in a situation where he does damage to himself or to others, which is why we're here today."

The defense rested after Hammock concluded her testimony.

Newman adjourned court for the day and announced that he will hear closing arguments from attorneys at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

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