Convicted Murderer Marion Bowman Jr. Scheduled for Execution in First U.S. Execution of 2025 – One America News Network
OAN Staff Abril Elfi
2:50 PM – Friday, January 31, 2025
Marion Bowman Jr., convicted of the 2001 murder and subsequent burning of a 21-year-old woman, is scheduled to be the first individual executed in the U.S. this year, with the execution taking place in South Carolina.
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Bowman’s execution is set for Friday, as both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fourth Circuit Court chose not to review his case, citing substantial evidence supporting his conviction.
The condemned man had the opportunity to seek clemency from South Carolina Governor Henry D. McMaster (R-S.C.), but he opted against it, which facilitated his execution.
At the age of 20, Bowman shot and killed Kandee Martin, 21, and was sentenced to death in 2002. After the killing, he placed her remains in a car trunk and ignited the vehicle.
Bowman’s legal team contended that his guilty verdict was influenced by racial bias, noting that he is Black and Martin was White. They sought to pause his execution to allow for further inquiry into the motivations behind his prosecution.
“All confidence in Marion Bowman Jr.’s conviction and death sentence is undermined by his trial attorney, who filtered his professional judgment through a presumption of racial bias by Bowman’s jury, introducing and assigning harmful stereotypes regarding both Bowman and the victim,” his lawyers asserted in court documents, according to state reports.
Bowman has consistently professed his innocence, claiming that he sold drugs to Martin, who he described as a friend, and suggested that a “cousin who testified against him” was responsible for her death.
“I am deeply sorry for Kandee and her family, but I didn’t commit the crime,” Bowman stated in a recent online message. “Her family has endured an irreparable loss. They have faced trials and appeals but have never known the truth from my side. I am aware this revelation may not provide them solace, but it is my truth.”
“I simply do not wish to face execution or life imprisonment for a crime I did not commit,” he added.
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