South Carolina man chooses to die by lethal injection instead of electric chair or firing squad
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A South Carolina inmate who has spent more than half his life on death row has chosen to die by lethal injection instead of by electric chair or firing squad later this month. Marion Bowman Jr., 44, is the third inmate set to die since the state was able to restart executions after a 13-year pause last year. All three have chosen lethal injection over the electric chair or a firing squad, which was created when the state feared it might never be able to obtain drugs for lethal injections again.
Three more inmates also have had all their regular appeals rejected by the courts. The state Supreme Court is allowing executions to take place every five weeks. Bowman is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.
“Marion has spent decades fighting to prove his innocence in this capital case in a state that has disproportionally applied the death penalty to young men of color. We will continue to support him and hope that South Carolina does not execute another innocent man," Bowman's attorney Lindsey Vann said in a statement.
A law allowing secrecy for executions has allowed the state to buy the pentobarbital it uses for lethal injections without revealing the drug's supplier. On Thursday, the federal government announced it was rescinding its protocol for executions with pentobarbital after a government review raised concerns about the potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.”.
