A South Carolina inmate was executed on Friday, the third time in four months the state has carried out the death penalty as it goes through a backlog of inmates who exhausted their appeals when the state was unable to obtain lethal injection drugs.

Marion Bowman Jr., 44, was executed by lethal injection at 6:27 p.m. for his murder conviction in the shooting death of his friend, 21-year-old Kandee Martin, whose burned body was found in the trunk of a car in 2001.

Bowman has maintained his innocence since his arrest. He said at the beginning of his final statement: "I did not kill Kandee Martin."

His lawyers raised questions about his conviction, noting that he was convicted on the word of several friends and relatives who received plea deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony.

SOUTH CAROLINA MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH CONCERNED ABOUT DRUG AFTER ISSUE DURING NOVEMBER EXECUTION

When the curtain to the death chamber opened, Bowman briefly looked at his attorney on the other side of the glass in the witness room before looking back up at the ceiling and closing his eyes, opening his eyes once or twice as he looked up.

After Bowman's attorney finished reading his final statement and poem, his breathing became heavy, and he puffed his lips as he exhaled. In less than a minute, his breathing stopped. Twenty minutes later, a doctor with a stethoscope listened to his chest and placed a hand on his neck, patting him as she finished.

Bowman said in his final statement that death row inmates might be viewed as the worst of the worst, but they have all grown and changed from what "they were when they had their moment that cost them everything."

"I know that Kandee’s family is in pain, they are justifiably angry," Bowman said. "If my death brings them some relief and ability to focus on the good times and funny stories, then I guess it will have served a purpose. I hope they find peace."

For his final meal, Bowman had fried seafood, including shrimp, fish and oysters, as well as chicken wings and tenders, onion rings, banana pudding, German chocolate cake, cranberry juice and pineapple juice.

Bowman was offered a plea deal for a life sentence but instead went to trial because he said he was not guilty.

His execution was the third in South Carolina since September, when the state – once one of the busiest for executions – ended a 13-year pause in carrying out the death penalty. The pause was caused in part by the state having difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs after its supply expired because of pharmaceutical companies' concerns that they would have to disclose they had sold the drugs to state officials. The state legislature then passed a shield law allowing officials to keep lethal injection drug suppliers private.

SOUTH CAROLINA SCHEDULING EXECUTIONS AGAIN AFTER A PAUSE FOR THE HOLIDAYS

In July, the state Supreme Court cleared the way to resume executions. Freddie Owens was put to death on Sept. 20 and Richard Moore was executed on Nov. 1, with both men choosing to die by lethal injection.

This was the first execution in the U.S. this year after 25 were carried out in the country last year. The court will allow an execution every five weeks until the other three inmates who have run out of appeals are put to death.

South Carolina has executed 46 inmates since the death penalty was resumed in the U.S. in 1976. In the early 2000s, the state was carrying out an average of three executions per year. Only nine states have killed more inmates.

Bowman did not ask Republican Gov. Henry McMaster for clemency, but the governor's office still released a letter denying clemency, noting that he received informal requests and petitions to spare Bowman's life.

No governor in the state has ever reduced a death sentence to life in prison without parole in the modern era of the death penalty.

Bowman's lawyer, Lindsey Vann, said his client did not want to spend additional decades in prison for a crime he did not commit. He had already spent more than half his life on death row.

"After more than two decades of battling a broken system that has failed him at every turn, Marion’s decision is a powerful refusal to legitimize an unjust process that has already stolen so much of his life," Vann said in a statement Thursday.

Bowman was convicted in Dorchester County in 2002 in connection with Martin's death the year before. Several friends and family members testified against him as part of plea deals with prosecutors.

One friend said Bowman was upset because Martin owed him money, while a second testified that Bowman believed Martin was wearing a recording device to have him arrested.

Bowman said he sold drugs to Martin, who was a friend of his for years, and sometimes she would pay with sex, but he said he did not kill her.

The final appeal from his current lawyers argued that Bowman's trial attorney was not prepared and had too much sympathy for the white victim and not Bowman, who is black. The South Carolina Supreme Court rejected the argument.

Bowman's lawyers also raised concerns about his execution due to his weight. An anesthesiologist said he feared South Carolina's secret lethal injection protocols did not take into account that Bowman, listed as 389 pounds in prison records, was heavier, as it can be difficult to properly insert an IV into a blood vessel and determine the dose of the drugs needed in people with obesity.

His lawyers were concerned that the drug used to put Moore to death in November required two large doses more than 11 minutes apart.

An anesthesiologist involved in reviewing Moore's autopsy records said they showed fluid in the lungs, leading lawyers to believe he "consciously experienced feelings of drowning and suffocation during the 23 minutes that it took to bring about his death."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A South Carolina man set to die by lethal injection is requesting a delay until more information is gathered about the drug that will kill him. 

The execution of Marion Bowman Jr. is set for Jan. 31, but he is concerned that the drug used to put another man to death in November required two large doses more than 11 minutes apart.

An anesthesiologist involved in reviewing autopsy records of Richard Moore, who was executed on Nov. 1, 2024, showed fluid in Moore’s lungs, leading lawyers to believe he "consciously experienced feelings of drowning and suffocation during the 23 minutes that it took to bring about his death," according to The Associated Press.

SOUTH CAROLINA EXECUTES RICHARD MOORE DESPITE BROADLY SUPPORTED PLEA TO CUT SENTENCE TO LIFE

Prison officials have not released why Moore required a second dose of the drug, but claim the methods used are like other states' use of the drug. 

Only one week ago, the federal government said it was rescinding protocol for executions with pentobarbital after a review raised concerns regarding "unnecessary pain and suffering," but President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing federal officials to carry out executions.

A second review directed by the governor’s office and prison system showed that witnesses indicated Moore’s breathing stopped in two or three minutes, and he was unconscious, according to Dr. Joseph F. Antognini, an anesthesiologist who taught at the University of California, Davis.

"Before becoming unconscious, the individual would not feel the sensations of pain, suffocation or air hunger," Antognini wrote.

TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE'S LAWYER SAYS 'THERE WAS NO CRIME' AS SHE MAKES LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE HIS LIFE

After that, the heart will have periodic, irregular beats for as long as 20 minutes before it stops, which could possibly be detected on a heart monitor and might have led to the second dose of pentobarbital, Antognini said.

State lawyers also said that Moore and another inmate who died by lethal injection had an attorney witness their deaths and "neither lawyer ever claimed that either man showed any signs of pain during his execution."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

South Carolina killer mom Susan Smith told an unknown male over the phone that she "wouldn't talk" to the media just weeks before she was ultimately disciplined behind bars for doing just that, according to prison calls newly obtained by Fox News Digital. 

The 53-year-old was denied parole on Nov. 20 after spending 30 years incarcerated – a decision that was made after she was found guilty of speaking with a documentary filmmaker, which was against prison rules. 

Smith was charged with communicating with a victim/and or witness of crime on Aug. 26 and was convicted on Oct. 3, Chrysti Shain, director of communications with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, previously told Fox News Digital.  

Less than two weeks before being charged with the incident, Smith told a male prison caller on Aug. 13 that she "got a letter from a woman," who she said worked for a national media outlet, adding "I've already thrown it away, so I can't even read it to you."

KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH DENIED PAROLE 30 YEARS AFTER DROWNING SONS

When asked what the letter was about, Smith responded, "Just wanted to talk with me. The same thing, like most of them… want to give me a platform to tell my story."

"I wouldn't talk to them, even if I could," she told the male caller. 

Smith then mentioned another letter she received.

GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB 

"I did get a letter from some guy in California, but all he said was, 'Hi, you don't know me, and I've never done this before. Care to talk?' That was it – just one line. It was handwritten…it was kind of odd," she said. "It's probably going in the trash too."

In a previous recorded phone conversation, seemingly with the same male caller, Smith discussed the Freedom of Information Act. 

WATCH "SUSAN SMITH, THE KILLER MOM: 30 YEARS LATER" ON FOX NATION

The very same month, she was charged after having conversations with a filmmaker – Smith's first disciplinary action in almost 10 years. 

In their conversations, Smith and the filmmaker discussed conducting an interview and even filming for a documentary and ways to get paid for it. 

They also spoke about Smith's crime in depth and the events leading up to and after it, including details like "what was in the trunk of the car when it went into the water and her plans to jump from a bridge while holding the boys, but one woke up," the incident report says.

KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH DISCIPLINED BEHIND BARS WEEKS BEFORE PAROLE HEARING

South Carolina Department of Corrections inmates are not allowed to do interviews on the telephone or in person, according to SCDC policy, but they may write letters. 

Smith agreed to provide the filmmaker with contact information for friends, family and victims, including her former husband. The filmmaker deposited money into Smith's account for "Calls and Canteen," according to the incident report, which redacted the filmmaker's name. 

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Smith lost her telephone, tablet and canteen privileges for 90 days. 

"SCDC inmates are issued tablets that are secured for correctional use. The tablets can be used to make monitored telephone calls and to send monitored electronic messages," Shain previously said. "They are considered a privilege. The department will determine when and if inmate Smith will earn the opportunity to be issued a tablet again."

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

Smith strapped her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander Smith, into the back seat of her car and let it roll down a ramp into John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina, on Oct. 25, 1994.

Smith, 22 at the time, watched as it took six minutes for water to fill the car, drown her boys and sink the car to the bottom of the lake. 

She was convicted for the murders of her two children on July 22, 1995, and though prosecutors argued that Smith should receive the death penalty, she was ultimately sentenced to life in prison. 

KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH THINKS PAROLE IS NOW UNLIKELY AFTER SHE WAS CAUGHT TRYING TO PROFIT OFF CASE: REPORT

A board unanimously voted to deny Smith's parole on Nov. 20 after she appeared emotional and crying on a jailhouse court feed during her hearing. 

"I know that what I did was horrible…I’m sorry that I put them through that...I wish I could take that back, I really do...I was just scared," she said during the parole hearing. "I didn’t know how to tell the people that loved them that they would never see them again…I’m sorry, I know that’s not enough…just words, but they come from my heart."

The reasons for the parole board's denial were the nature and seriousness of the crime and Smith's institutional record of offenses. 

Sheriff’s deputies in Missouri say they responded to a "bananas situation" on Monday when they responded to a report of a subject "monkeying around."

In an unusual police stop, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said they discovered a spider monkey wearing a pink-colored tutu near Route 21 and Highway M in eastern Missouri. Spider monkeys are typically found in tropical forests of Central and South America.

In a light-hearted post on X, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said that first-responding units found the subject "naked except for what appeared to be a tutu."

"After careful negotiations, deputies were able to get close enough to go 'hands-on’ with the subject and bring this bananas situation under control without incident," the law enforcement agency wrote. 

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL GETS IN SOME MONKEY BUSINESS DURING ROUTINE STOP

Officials said the exotic primate was staying at a nearby home when it managed to open a door and get outside. 

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office posted several pictures of its deputies with the black-colored monkey. In one heart-warming image, a deputy is holding hands with the animal.

MONKEY MAYHEM AS DOZENS OF PRIMATES ESCAPE SOUTH CAROLINA RESEARCH CENTER

"In all seriousness, this is a great example of law enforcement officers never knowing what they’ll face on any given call and having to be prepared to handle whatever the job throws at them," the post continues. 

"Deputies surrounded the animal and eventually got it back to its caretaker. Nice work by everyone involved. What a day in #JeffCo."

A permit is required to own a spider monkey in Missouri. 

The news comes days after a spider monkey dressed in a onesie was discovered by police in California.

A California Highway Patrol official stopped a 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost in Madera County last week for excessive speeding on Highway 99 and found the monkey in the car.

Meanwhile, in November, 43 rhesus macaque monkeys escaped a testing facility in South Carolina. A majority of them were recaptured. 

A suspected illegal immigrant was arrested in South Carolina on Thursday after officials say he made a fake bomb threat during a traffic stop which ultimately led to a section of Interstate 85 being shut down for nearly five hours.

Ahmad Jamal Khamees Alhendi, 28, was stopped at around 2:45 p.m. by state transport police for having a missing license plate on his tractor trailer, according to the South Carolina Dept. of Public Safety (SCDPS).

That’s when Alhendi told a police officer that there was an explosive device inside the commercial vehicle. 

6 TIMES ISIS HAS INSPIRED TERROR ATTACKS ON US SOIL

All six lanes of I-85 were subsequently shut down as the threat was investigated by the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), and the FBI. 

The shutdown, which took place near Mile Marker 44, led to long delays and bumper-to-bumper traffic. 

The 18-wheeler was eventually cleared and all lanes of I-85 were reopened at approximately 7:40 p.m.

Alhendi appeared in court on Friday and was charged with conveying false information about a bomb threat, breach of peace of high and aggravated nature, and having no vehicle license.

SUSPECT BEHIND CYBERTRUCK THAT EXPLODED AT TRUMP HOTEL IDENTIFIED AS ACTIVE-DUTY US ARMY SOLDIER

He was issued a total surety bond of $20,238 for all three charges and sent to the Greenville County Detention Center, Fox Carolina reports. 

A Greenville County Detention Center spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Alhendi was placed on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer, a holding notice of a potential illegal immigrant who could be removed from the country.

Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE and the FBI for more information on Alhendi. 

SCDPS said that the tractor-trailer is registered with Globe Transportation in Illinois.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed to Fox News Digital that Alhendi works for Globe Transportation, but the company was not making any statements at that time. 

A South Carolina man convicted in the brutal double murder of two bank employees in 2017 is asking for a "compassionate release" days after President Biden spared his life and commuted his death sentence. 

Brandon Council, 28, was convicted in September 2019 in the 2017 double murder of Conway bank employees Katie Skeen, 36, and Donna Major, 59. Council was then sentenced to death by a federal court one month later.

Council was one of 37 federal inmates on death row who had their sentences commuted to life in prison by Biden.

On Friday, Council filed a motion in the U.S. District Court in Florence arguing that he deserved a "compassionate release" because he had been subjected to "severe, unnecessary, and unjustifiable psychological harm" that "can only be accurately construed and assimilated as an act of torture," since he was permanently housed in solitary confinement since Nov. 4, 2019, according to records obtained by WBTW. 

TRUMP EXECUTION RESTART TO PUT BOSTON MARATHON BOMBER, CHARLESTON CHURCH SHOOTER, MORE KILLERS IN HOT SEAT

A compassionate release is described by the American Bar Organization as the process by which those incarcerated may seek early release, whether to community supervision or to their communities, due to extraordinary or compelling circumstances.

Several people have openly disagreed with Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences, including Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., who said the decision was "shameful."

"Biden’s move to pardon 37 federal death row inmates - including 3 men from South Carolina who committed unspeakable acts - continues to shock Americans nationwide. This decision is shameful. It is high time to return America to a country of law and order," Fry wrote in a post on X.

Fry added in another post following the announcement that Biden's decision "disgraces victims’ memories nationwide."

"Joe Biden’s clemency for death row inmates disgraces victims’ memories nationwide, like Donna Major of Conway and Katie Skeen of Green Sea. This shows shocking disregard for innocent families’ pain, right at Christmas. January 20 cannot come soon enough," Fry wrote in his post on X. 

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., echoed Fry and called Biden's actions "senseless."

"President Biden's decision to commute the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates is not just senseless—it's an outrageous example of this administration's upside down and backwards ideology," Meuser wrote in a post on his X account.

FAMILY OF MURDERED SC WOMAN RAGES AT BIDEN FOR COMMUTING KILLER'S DEATH SENTENCE: 'SHE WAS SHOWN NO MERCY'

During an interview with "Fox & Friends," Major's family said they were livid after Biden commuted her killer's death sentence just days before Christmas.

"I was angry. I'm still angry. I am upset that this is even happening, that one man can make this decision without even talking to the victims, without any regard for what we've been through, what we're going through, and completely hurt, frustrated and angry," Major's daughter Heather Turner said during the Christmas Eve interview.  

"She was shown no mercy at all. This man walked into the bank, never said two words to her. Shot her three times in total. He went and shot her coworker, Katie Skeen as well, who was totally defenseless and unaware of anything happening," Major's husband, Danny Jenkins, added during the show.

"I can't even believe that this is actually happening…"

Council spent a week at a motel across from the CresCom Bank in Conway, South Carolina, where he watched the movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" before he went in with a gun and killed both Skeen and Major. 

Council already had a prior felony conviction at the time and told an FBI agent that he went into the bank knowing he would kill someone during the robbery.

He had been on parole for a month at the time of the murders, which came during his second bank robbery since leaving prison.

FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR IN DEATH ROW CASE SPEAKS ON BIDEN COMMUTING MURDERER'S SENTENCE: 'MY HEART ACHES'

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the Biden-Harris administration's moratorium on federal executions when he returns to office.

Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Christmas Day to call out Biden for his commutation decision. 

"They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing," Trump's post read. 

"Also, to the 37 most violent criminals who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky ‘souls’ but instead, will say, GO TO HELL!" Trump continued. 

The U.S. government has executed 50 inmates since 1927, according to the Bureau of Prisons, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Cold War spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. That's far fewer than the individual states, which have executed more than 1,500 condemned inmates in the last 50 years.

The government carried out death sentences for 13 federal prisoners during Trump's first term, the most under any president in a century.

Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz and Taylor Penley and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

South Carolina's attorney general is leading a legal battle over gender pronoun rules in the U.S.'s public school districts. 

AG Alan Wilson appeared on "The Faulkner Focus" on Friday to explain how some gender pronoun rules in school districts threaten free speech. 

The case started with a school district outside Columbus, Ohio, that adopted policies requiring everyone to use a student's preferred pronouns, which parental rights groups challenged and lost in both the district and appeals courts. Now, Ohio and South Carolina are leading 23 states in a legal battle, claiming the action "reflects the unusually egregious government action here" and, "The First Amendment forbids school officials from coercing students to express messages inconsistent with the student's values."

VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARD TO PAY ‘WRONGFULLY FIRED’ TEACHER WHO REFUSED TO USE STUDENT'S PREFERRED PRONOUNS

Wilson, who is co-leading the legal fight, said local school districts across the country, like the one in Ohio, are compelling students "to lie to violate their own personal viewpoints."

"That is something that we cannot abide in Ohio, South Carolina or any state in this country," he said. "Yes, the lawsuit has gotten struck down, or we have lost at the district court and the court of appeals level, but this is one of those cases that I think is best served by going to the US Supreme Court." 

Wilson pointed out that in 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that teachers and students don't shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate, but argues that the school district in Ohio is trying to force all students to say things that many might not believe in.

VIRGINIA TEACHER SAYS ‘A LOT’ OF STAFF DISAGREED, SOME QUIT OVER MANDATE TO USE STUDENTS' PREFERRED PRONOUNS

"Parental rights groups are doing what I think groups around the country are all doing, and it's trying to protect their children from being compelled to not only violate their First Amendment rights inside the schoolhouse, but this policy, the one in Ohio in particular, would do the same thing outside of school," he said.  

"If you were at a mall on a Saturday or you were texting a friend or putting something on X or Twitter or whatever, you could be penalized when you showed up at school on Monday morning for using the wrong pronoun that someone found offensive," he added.