South Carolina Resumes Executions After 13-Year Pause

South Carolina is preparing to execute its third inmate since September as the state moves through a backlog of prisoners who exhausted their appeals while officials struggled to obtain lethal injection drugs. The execution of Marion Bowman Jr., 44, is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday at a Columbia prison. Bowman was convicted in 2002 for the 2001 murder of his friend Kandee Martin, whose burned body was found in the trunk of a car.

Bowman has consistently maintained his innocence since his arrest. His lawyers argue that his conviction was largely based on the testimonies of several friends and relatives who received plea deals or had charges dropped in exchange for their statements against him. Despite being offered a plea deal for life imprisonment, Bowman chose to go to trial, stating that he did not commit the crime.

This execution comes after South Carolina lifted a 13-year pause in capital punishment, which was partly due to difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs. The state legislature passed a shield law, allowing the identity of drug suppliers to remain secret, enabling prison officials to secure a compounding pharmacy willing to produce pentobarbital for executions.

Bowman has declined to request clemency from Governor Henry McMaster. His lawyer, Lindsey Vann, stated that Bowman refused to spend additional decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, describing his decision as a “powerful refusal to legitimize an unjust process.” Historically, no South Carolina governor has granted clemency in any of the 45 executions carried out since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Bowman’s conviction took place in Dorchester County in 2002. Witness testimonies suggested that he killed Martin because she owed him money or because he suspected she was wearing a recording device to get him arrested. Bowman admitted to selling drugs to Martin and stated that she sometimes paid with sex, but he denied any involvement in her murder.

His execution has also raised racial concerns, as he is the third Black inmate executed since the state resumed capital punishment. His final appeal argued that his trial attorney was overly sympathetic to his white victim, but the South Carolina Supreme Court dismissed this claim as meritless.

Another key concern is Bowman’s weight. Prison records list him at 389 pounds (176 kg), and an anesthesiologist warned that South Carolina’s secret lethal injection protocols may not adequately account for the challenges of finding a vein and administering the correct dosage in an obese person. During the previous execution, officials administered two doses of pentobarbital 11 minutes apart, according to autopsy records.

Before the 13-year execution pause, South Carolina was one of the busiest states for capital punishment, averaging three executions per year in the early 2000s. The state Supreme Court approved the resumption of executions in July 2023, leading to the executions of Freddie Owens (Sept. 20) and Richard Moore (Nov. 1). Officials have scheduled an execution every five weeks to clear the backlog of inmates who have exhausted their appeals.

Since 1976, South Carolina has executed 45 inmates. However, its death row population has declined significantly, from 63 inmates in 2011 to 30 today. The reduction is attributed to successful appeals that resulted in lighter sentences and natural causes deaths among death row inmates.

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