Marion Bowman Jr. is scheduled to be executed in South Carolina for the murder of a friend, despite maintaining his innocence and being offered a plea deal for a life sentence. The execution is part of the state’s efforts to work through a backlog of inmates who have exhausted their appeals while the state faced challenges in obtaining lethal injection drugs.
Bowman, who has been on death row for more than half his life, is not seeking clemency from the governor. His lawyer stated that he refuses to legitimize an unjust process that has already taken so much of his life.
The execution follows the lifting of a 13-year pause due to the state’s inability to obtain lethal injection drugs. Bowman’s weight has also raised concerns regarding the effectiveness and dosage of the drugs used in the execution process, with an anesthesiologist expressing fears that protocols may not properly account for his weight.
Since South Carolina reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 45 inmates have been executed. The state recently resumed executions with Bowman set to be the third inmate put to death in a short time frame. The court has approved an execution every five weeks until the remaining three inmates with no remaining appeals are executed.
The death row population in South Carolina has decreased in recent years due to successful appeals and natural deaths, with the state currently having 30 condemned inmates.
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