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Justices reject appeal from death row inmate who killed off-duty cop

Mikal Deen Mahidi pleaded guilty to killing an off-duty police officer during a multistate crime spree in 2004

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Mikal Deen Mahdi, 23, of Virginia, looks across at his lawyers during his sentencing phase of his trial Monday, Dec.4, 2006, in St. Matthews, S.C.

AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a South Carolina death row inmate who pleaded guilty to killing an off-duty police officer during a multistate crime spree in 2004.

The justices on Tuesday left in place a lower court ruling that rejected Mikal Deen Mahdi’s claims that his lawyer didn’t do enough to present evidence of his troubled childhood.

Mahdi said his lawyer relied on a single expert witness instead of calling family members and others to offer more details about Mahdi’s years growing up with an abusive father.

Prosecutors said that during his crime spree Mahdi killed a North Carolina convenience store clerk, carjacked a sport-utility vehicle in South Carolina and later killed Orangeburg Public Safety Capt. James Myers on Myers’ farm.

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