Marion Bowman Jr, 44, has spent more than half his life on death road and could face an execution date as early as January 3 after he exhausted the appeals process
Marion Bowman Jr, 44, will be executed in the state of South Carolina (
Image: AP)
An inmate has issued a desperate plea to avoid the death penalty as he blasted his own lawyer for being “too sympathetic” toward the victim.
Marion Bowman Jr, 44, is set to be the next inmate to be executed in the state of South Carolina. The state had paused executions for the holidays but a date could be set for Bowman as early as January 3.
While making a final appeal to the state Supreme Court he claimed his trial lawyer was inadequately prepared and was too sympathetic toward the victim. Bowman faces the death penalty over the killing of 21-year-old Kandee Martin back in 2001. Martin was fatally shot in the head and her body was later found in the boot of a car that had been set alight.
Bowman’s current lawyer filed an appeal on Tuesday that asked to halt the execution. They claim Bowman’s lawyer at the time had tried to call the victim, who was white, “a little girl,” according to the Associated Press. The lawyer then reportedly referred to Bowman, a black man, as a man despite him being a year younger than Kandee at the time of her death.
Bowman faces the death penalty over the killing of 21-year-old Kandee Martin back in 2001 (
Image:
AP)
Evidence against Bowman come frim friends and family who testified against him due as part of plea deals. Prosecutors managed to produce evidence of a sexual relationship between him and Kandee. Bowman was not charged with rape.
Trial attorney Norbert Cummings claimed at one point that Bowman admitted guilt despite Bowman insisting he did not kill Kandee. Appeal attorney Lindsay Vann said: “His trial attorney because of his own prejudices didn’t listen to Marion or his views on his own defence.”
Judges have upheld Bowman’s conviction and death sentence (
Image:
AP)
In a 2014 hearing on whether to overturn Bowman’s conviction, Cummings turned and asked what he had been doing in a remote area in Dorchester County on the night of the death. According to Bowman’s latest appeal, Cummings said: “Marion, what are you doing on Nursery Road at that time of the morning with a white female and African American males in Dorchester County? Really. This is 2001 but what good are you doing out there on a dirt road?”
Cummings did not respond to the Associated Press’ request for comment. Bowman has no more legal avenues to continue appealing his sentence and judges have upheld his conviction and death sentence. He is set to be the third inmate to be executed in South Carolina after the General Assembly passed a law in 2023 that allowed secrecy about where they obtain lethal injection drugs. The state had not executed anyone for 13 years.
