WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Prosecutors: Mahdi knew he was killing a police officer

Prosecutors: Mahdi knew he was killing a police officer

(St. Matthews-AP) December 4, 2006 - Prosecutors arguing for the death penalty Monday say a Virginia man knew he was shooting an off-duty South Carolina police officer when he fired a rifle at the man nine times and then set his body on fire.

Circuit Judge Clifton Newman heard testimony Monday from the widow of 56-year-old Orangeburg County Public Safety Captain James Myers.

In 2001, Amy Tripp and Jim Myers were in love, "We were inseparable. We did everything together."

They bought 37 acres of land with a pond in Calhoun County. "It's where our dreams were."

The couple built a shed. "Jim and I looked at our new shed, hugged and like giddy children full of hope, scratched our names in the newly poured concrete."

In 2003, their wedding was on the shed steps. "Jim and I, surrounded by our families, and beaming with love for each other, pledged our vows of love and marriage."

But just one year later, their hopes and dreams ended.

"I found the love of my life, my soulmate, the person my life revolved around, lying in a pool of blood, his body badly burned by someone who didn't even know him."

"I died that night, and haven't been the same since."

"I have yet to walk that sacred ground between the pond and shed without thinking of Jim and all our unfulfilled dreams."

Later in the sentencing phase, the defense will talk about Mahdi's troubled relationship with his family, and how that may have impacted the person he became.

Twenty-three-year-old Mikal Deen Mahdi pleaded guilty to murder and other charges last week.

Prosecutors are trying to prove Mahdi knew he was killing a police officer. Prosecutors say Mahdi fled in Myers' unmarked police truck, setting off a manhunt that ended three days later with Mahdi's capture in Florida.

Authorities say Mahdi killed a store clerk in North Carolina a week before Myers' death.

Updated 6:50pm by Bryce Mursch