COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Supreme Court has scheduled the state’s next execution for January 31, following a temporary pause during the Christmas season.
As the state addresses a backlog of inmates whose appeals have run their course, there has been a delay in executions due to challenges in acquiring the necessary drugs for lethal injection.
Marion Bowman Jr., age 44, was convicted of murder in 2001 for the shooting of Kandee Martin, whose body was discovered in the trunk of her car in Dorchester County. Bowman’s legal representatives announced that he maintains his innocence and argue that going through with his execution would be “unconscionable” due to lingering uncertainties surrounding his conviction.
Bowman would mark the third inmate executed by lethal injection since the state successfully acquired the drugs necessary for the punishment. Inmates also retain the option of electrocution or a newly introduced firing squad. The state Supreme Court has stated that three more inmates will have their execution dates set at five-week intervals.
The court could have potentially moved to set Bowman’s execution for as early as December 6. However, justices accepted an unopposed request from the legal teams of four inmates awaiting execution for a postponement until January. Lawyers expressed concerns that six consecutive executions, particularly during this sensitive time of year, could place significant strain on all parties involved.
Critics including defense attorneys have noted that South Carolina has conducted executions around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays previously, underscoring the ongoing tension surrounding the state’s death penalty practices.
Once a leader in capital punishment, South Carolina’s execution activity waned as obtaining lethal injection drugs became problematic due to pharmaceutical companies’ reluctance to sell the chemicals for use in executions.
Legislation has since been enacted to ensure the confidentiality of lethal injection drug suppliers, and recent court decisions have cleared the path for executions to resume. The state resumed executions with the lethal injection death of Freddie Owens on September 20 and Richard Moore on November 1.
Execution inmates may also petition South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster for clemency, though historically, no governor in the state has converted a death sentence to life imprisonment without parole in the modern era of the death penalty.
The director of South Carolina’s prison system has a deadline next week to confirm the availability of lethal injection, the electric chair, and the newly authorized firing squad for Bowman’s upcoming execution.
Bowman, who has spent over half his life on death row, faces significant challenges in his legal battle. His lawyers are appealing for a delay on the grounds of inadequate legal representation during his trial and claim that his lawyer exhibited bias against him as a Black defendant, primarily favoring the white victim.
The defense asserts that Bowman’s conviction rests on unreliable witness testimony, with claims that testimonies were offered in exchange for leniency in their own legal situations.
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, South Carolina has executed 45 inmates, although execution rates have significantly decreased in recent years. While there were 63 inmates on death row in early 2011, that number has now reduced to 30, with many inmates receiving altered sentences through successful appeals or because of natural causes.
