South Carolina is set to resume executions, with the state Supreme Court scheduling the next one for January 31. Marion Bowman Jr., 44, is set to be put to death for his murder conviction in the shooting of a friend whose burned body was found in the trunk of her car in 2001. Bowman’s lawyers maintain his innocence and argue that putting him to death would be “unconscionable” due to unresolved doubts about his conviction.
Bowman would be the third inmate executed since September after the state obtained lethal injection drugs. The state had a 13-year pause on executions due to trouble obtaining lethal injection drugs. The state Supreme Court cleared the way to resume executions in July, and inmates can also ask Governor Henry McMaster for clemency, although no governor in the state has ever reduced a death sentence to life in prison without parole.
Bowman’s lawyers argue that he did not receive a fair trial and lacked effective legal representation. They claim that his trial lawyer was biased and made poor decisions, including pressuring Bowman to plead guilty. The state’s prisons director has until next week to confirm that the methods of execution, including lethal injection, the electric chair, and a firing squad, are available options for Bowman.