'I did not do it': South Carolina man set for execution argues innocence, racial bias

Marion Bowman Jr. is a grandfather, a poet and a death row inmate.

Prison officials in South Carolina plan to execute Bowman by lethal injection on Friday for the murder of 21-year-old Kandee Martin on Feb. 16, 2001. While Bowman admits to dealing drugs to Martin, he says he didn't kill her and that prosecutors convicted the wrong man.

"I am so sorry for Kandee and her family, but I did not do it," Bowman wrote recently in a statement posted online. "Her family has suffered a loss that can not be undone. They have been through trials, and appeals, but they have never heard the truth from me. I know this won’t bring them satisfaction, but this is my truth.

"I just don’t want to be executed or imprisoned for life for a crime that I didn’t commit," the 44-year-old wrote.

Barring an intervention from Republican Gov. Henry McMaster or the U.S. Supreme Court, Bowman will become the first inmate executed in the U.S. in 2025. Another four inmates are scheduled for execution by Feb. 13.

As Bowman runs out of time before Friday's execution, Paste BN is looking back at the crime, what led Bowman down a path that ended on Death Row and what his attorneys have been arguing to try to stop it.

What was Marion Bowman convicted of?

A jury convicted Bowman of killing 21-year-old Kandee Martin, a young mother whom Bowman described as a longtime friend, sometimes sexual partner and a customer. Prosecutors argued that Martin owed Bowman money for crack cocaine and cited several witnesses who said they heard him swearing to kill the young woman.

On Feb. 17, 2001, police found Martin's body. She had been shot once in the chest and once in the head on a dark country road. Her killer put her body in the trunk of her car and lit the car on fire, court records show.

The day she was killed, Bowman − who was 20 years old − said that he sold Martin drugs several times throughout the day but that later on she was "buying on credit." He said the two had sex and that afterward he saw her drive off in her car with his cousin, also a dealer.

That cousin became the star witness in Bowman's murder trial as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors for a reduced sentence. Bowman argues that jurors never heard that his cousin had confessed to killing Martin to a cellmate and that prosecutors ignored evidence that pointed to his cousin's and another man's guilt.

"I have done some things in life I regret," Bowman wrote. "I regret the role I had in dealing to Kandee and know that her addiction probably led to her death. But I did not do this."

Martin's family has rejected his denials. Speaking on behalf of the family, Kandee Martin's sister-in-law, Lisa Martin, told Paste BN that they have no doubt Bowman killed her and are "counting down the minutes" to his execution.

"There is absolutely no part of us that believes any of the stories he's saying," she said, adding that it's been hard for the family to see Bowman's complaints. "What was left of Kandee is in a coffin in the ground so how dare he feel sorry for himself."

Who is Marion Bowman?

Bowman grew up in a rural area in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, about halfway between Charleston and Columbia.

He had an absent father and his mother became ill when Bowman was a teenager, making him the man of the house, his attorney, Lindsey Vann, told Paste BN. "He's just a really loyal person from his earliest years, and unfortunately, that got him into the drug trade in the area," she said.

"My family was poor, but we got by," Bowman recently wrote in his online testimonial. "I didn’t finish high school. I worked at some manual labor jobs but could never make ends meet."

So, he turned to selling crack cocaine, at first to support his mother and sister, and eventually his wife and stepchildren, Vann said.

After he was imprisoned, Bowman's wife gave birth to the couple's baby daughter, who has since had a baby daughter of her own and made Bowman a grandfather. He also has three step-grandchildren he considers his own. Despite the circumstances, he says they're all close.

Vann said that Bowman has matured while in prison, developed a deep faith in God and became a bit of a writer, penning a poem titled "While I Breathe I Hope." It reads, in part: "Doors continue to close, slamming with a resounding bang ... With my hope gone, do I cease to breathe? I'm still breathing, so this I know. While I breathe, I hope."

Bowman's attorneys concerned about execution drug, racial bias

Bowman's attorneys are arguing that there's a "veil of secrecy" surrounding pentobarbital, the execution drug being used to kill him.

In an effort to stop the execution, Vann argued in recent court documents that the state violated Bowman's rights by refusing to turn over basic details about the drug, like its expiration date and how it's stored. She also raised questions about the drug's purity and quality after a second dose was given to South Carolina inmate Richard Moore 11 minutes after his execution began in November.

In court filings, the state argued that Bowman could have chosen a firing squad or electric chair for his execution, but he opted to die by lethal injection for Martin's "gruesome murder." A judge denied Vann's request this week.

Vann said Bowman chose lethal injection despite the unanswered questions because the firing squad and electric chair are "barbaric and unconstitutional." If Bowman hadn't chosen from among the three, the default method would have been the electric chair.

Bowman has also argued that he never got a fair trial, partly because of his race.

Bowman said that his first public defender's first words to him were: "Mr. Bowman, I'm your PD (public defender), would you like to plead guilty?"

"I said, 'Of course not! I didn't murder anyone!" Bowman recalled. Five months later, he had a new attorney who Bowman says told him: "Son, you need to plead guilty. You are charged with killing a white girl and you and your family are Black. (The prosecutor) is gonna love this."

He says the prosecutor in the case at one point asked him 13 times to plead guilty, but he denied every one of them and his defense attorneys' advice to do so.

"I wasn't going to be sentenced for something that I didn’t do," he said. "The only thing I have ever wanted is a fair trial with a lawyer that will listen to me."