A pathologist hired by death row inmates' attorneys says a South Carolina man executed by firing squad was conscious and likely in extreme pain for up to a minute.

A firing squad execution carried out in South Carolina went wrong, leaving the subject alive and in pain for nearly a minute after the marksmen missed their target, according to an autopsy. Mikal Mahdi was the second person put to death in South Carolina this year on April 11 when he was strapped to a chair with a red target placed on his heart.

A man who was put to death last month in South Carolina's second firing squad execution was conscious and likely suffered in extreme pain for as long as a minute after the bullets, meant to quickly stop his heart,