A South Carolina man who is set to become the first inmate executed in the U.S. in 2025 says prosecutors convicted the wrong man, and that while he did deal drugs to the victim in the case, he didn’t kill her. The young woman’s family says he’s a liar and that they’ve been “counting down the minutes” until he dies.
South Carolina plans to execute Marion Bowman Jr. on Friday for the Feb. 16, 2001, shooting death of 21-year-old Kandee Martin, who was killed five days before her son’s second birthday. Police found Martin’s bullet-ridden body in the trunk of her own car, which had been set on fire.
“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 … 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,” he wrote.
Kandee Martin’s sister-in-law, Lisa Martin, told USA TODAY that her family hopes the execution will bring some closure.
“He gets to do so many things that Kandee doesn’t get to do. He gets to speak to his family. I read that he got to hold a grandchild … He’s had 24 years to find God and he can to tie up his loose ends,” Martin said. “We never got that opportunity. What was left of Kandee is in a coffin in the ground.”
Here’s what you need to know about the execution.
What was Marion Bowman convicted of?
A jury convicted Bowman of murdering Martin, whom Bowman described as a longtime friend and sometimes sexual partner who bought crack cocaine from him. Prosecutors argued that Martin owed Bowman money for drugs 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.”
‘I did not do it’: South Carolina man set for execution argues innocence, racial bias
Who was Kandee Martin?
The daughter of a rebar contractor and a stay-at-home mom, Kandee grew up in the tiny town of Branchville in rural South Carolina, about halfway between Charleston and Columbia. The town had limited employment options and was so small, Martin recalls that her graduating high school had just 21 students.
Kandee wanted something more and talked often of making it to Charleston and starting a career.
“She was a small town girl whose dream was to get out of the small town and just make something of her life,” Martin said.
Before Kandee could get out of Branchville, she got pregnant with a baby boy who was both unexpected and a welcome blessing. “She went from being just a young single girl to being someone’s mom, and to her, that was the coolest thing ever,” Martin said.
“When I close my I eyes, I can still hear those two giggling with each other,” Martin said.
Kandee Martin (top center) is pictured with her future sister-in-law Lisa Martin (bottom) when they dressed as can-can dancers at the age of 15 and 12, respectively.
Who was Kandee Martin? A small-town girl with big dreams, murdered at just 21 years old.
When and where will Marion Bowman be executed?
Bowman’s execution is set to happen at 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina.
What execution method is being used?
Bowman will be killed by a lethal injection of pentobarbital.
Bowman’s attorneys have been arguing that there’s a “veil of secrecy” surrounding the drug, saying in court documents that the state has refused to turn over basic details, like the pentobarbital’s expiration date and how it’s stored. They’ve 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.”
Lindsey Vann, one of Bowman’s attorneys, said he 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.
A lethal injection bed inside an execution chamber is pictured at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee.
More about 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, Vann told USA TODAY. “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.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marion Bowman Jr.: What to know about the South Carolina execution
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