South Carolina executed Marion Bowman Jr. by lethal injection on Friday in the first execution in the United States this year. Bowman, who was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m., was on Death Row for ...

Ron Kaz protests prior to the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman Jr. outside of a South Carolina Department of Corrections facility, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco) ...

Ron Kaz protests prior to the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman Jr. outside of a South Carolina Department of Corrections facility, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco) ...

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.

South Carolina has put 45 inmates to death since the death penalty was restarted in the U.S. in 1976. In the early 2000s, it was carrying out an average of three executions a year. Nine states ...