FILE - This undated photo released by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the room where inmates are executed in Columbus, S.C. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — 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.”

State prison officials, who have said South Carolina's procedures for lethal injection are similar to the federal government, did not comment on the decision, which could be changed again next week when Donald Trump is sworn in as president.

Bowman's lawyers are asking a federal judge to require prison officials give them more information about the lethal injection drug. They said the state told the doctor performing an autopsy of Richard Moore that he was given pentobarbital through an IV twice — once as the execution started and again 11 minutes later when he was killed Nov. 1.

The initial dose of pentobarbital, if administered correctly, was such an extremely high dose that his breathing should have stopped in a minute without a need for a second dose, Dr. David B. Waisel, an anesthesiologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, wrote in court papers for the defense.

Fluid was also found in Moore's lungs and Waisel wrote “it appears likely that during Mr. Moore’s execution, he consciously experienced feelings of drowning and suffocation during the 23 minutes that it took to bring about his death.”

Wasiel also said he fears South Carolina's protocols don't take into account Bowman's weight, listed as 389 pounds (176 kilograms) in prison records. It can be difficult to properly get an IV into a blood vessel and determine the dose of the drugs needed in people with obesity.

Bowman was convicted of murder in the shooting of a friend whose burned body was found in the trunk of her burned out car in Dorchester County in 2001. Much of the evidence against Bowman at his trial came from friends and family members who testified against him as part of plea deals.

Bowman has insisted he did not kill 21-year-old Kandee Martin. He did not testify at his trial, but released a statement last month through his lawyer with his story about what happened around the time Martin was killed.

When Bowman was arrested, he had Martin's watch, but said she gave it to him as collateral when she didn't have the money to buy crack cocaine.

Bowman said his lawyers did a poor job representing him at trial, failing to show jurors a video from a nearby store around the time Martin was shot, which captured another man buying a container of gasoline and voices on the tape talking about killing a woman.

The prosecutor offered a plea deal for a life sentence, but Bowman said he refused to take it because he didn't kill anyone. One of his lawyers encouraged him to take it too, saying a jury might hold his race against him.

The attorney “came to the jail and said, ‘son, you need to plead guilty. You are charged with killing a white girl and you and your family are Black,’” Bowman wrote.

On Thursday, the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected a request from Bowman's current lawyers to postpone his execution so new evidence could be reviewed over what they said was the poor performance of Bowman's trial lawyers and one of them sympathizing more with the victim because she was white.

The justices called the arguments “meritless” and said they were based on comments taken out of context.

Bowman's last chance to spare his life may lie with asking Gov. Henry McMaster to reduce his sentence to life without parole.

Bowman's attorneys said he has been a model prisoner during his more than two decades on death row. They have sworn statements from several former nurses and other death row workers who say Bowman is a gentle giant who has a knack for helping inmates with mental problems cooperate with psychologists and take their medication. He also acted for years as the official intermediary between death row inmates and prison officials.

South Carolina has executed 45 inmates since the death penalty was reinstated about 50 years ago. No governor has ever offered clemency, including McMaster for the two inmates executed in 2024. McMaster will announce his decision minutes before Bowman's execution is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31.

Bowman said he regrets selling his friend drugs that led to her addiction.

“I have done some things in life I regret. 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,” Bowman wrote. “I am so sorry for Kandee and her family, but I did not do it.”

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