South Carolina death row inmate has asked to die by firing squad just five weeks after the state carried out its first execution by bullets.

A last-ditch effort from attorneys of a death row inmate argue that his beliefs about being a "sovereign citizen" could be considered insanity and should spare him from execution.

Mikal Mahdi, who killed a South Carolina police officer during a multi-state crime spree, has chosen to die by firing squad. He is only the second person to choose to die this way since it was added as a method of execution by the state legislature in 2021.