Marion Bowman was sentenced to death by the State of South Carolina for the murder of Kandee Martin
According to court documents Marion Bowman was paranoid and believed that Kandee Martin was an undercover informant. Bowman would shoot the woman multiple times before putting her body in the trunk of her vehicle and setting it on fire
Marion Bowman would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Marion Bowman is incarcerated at Broad River Correctional Institution
Marion Bowman Case
On February 17, 2001, Kandee Martin's [] body was found in the trunk of her burned car. She had been shot to death before being placed in the trunk.
The previous day, several people gathered at Hank Koger's house to socialize and drink alcohol. [Marion Bowman], who was wearing black pants, arrived at Koger's house around 11:00 a.m. that day. He subsequently left to purchase meat. When [Bowman] returned, he became upset
because his gun had been moved. He accused James Tywan Gadson [] of taking the gun out of the trash barrel located on Koger's property. Hiram Johnson intervened and told [Bowman] he had moved the gun. The gun was a .380 caliber pistol that [Bowman] had purchased a few weeks before in the presence of Gadson and Travis Felder. After retrieving his gun, [Bowman] left Koger's house.
Later that afternoon, [Marion Bowman] was riding in the car of his sister, Yolanda Bowman, with another woman, Katrina West. [Bowman], who had a gun in his back pocket, was sitting in the back seat. He instructed Yolanda to park beside [Martin's] car. At the time, [Martin] was speaking to a man. [Bowman] tried to get [Martin's] attention, but she indicated to him that he should wait a moment. The man, Yolanda, and Katrina testified as to what [Bowman] said next. The man stated that [Bowman] said, "Fuck waiting a minute. I'm about to kill this bitch." Yolanda stated that [Bowman] said, "Fuck it, that bitch. That bitch be dead by dark." Katrina stated that [Bowman] said, "Fuck that ride. That bitch be dead by dark fall." After [Bowman's] comments, Yolanda drove away and [Bowman] informed her [Martin] owed him money.
Around 7:30 p.m. that evening, [] Gadson saw [Bowman] riding with [Martin] in her car. They stopped and [Bowman] told Gadson to get in. Gadson had been drinking alcohol since 1:00 and was "feeling in good shape." [Martin] stopped for gas and they drove off without paying. [Bowman] allegedly instructed [Martin] where to drive and instructed her to stop on Nursery Road. Gadson and [Bowman] then exited the vehicle and walked down the road while [Martin] remained in the car. [Bowman] told Gadson he was going to kill [Martin] because she had on a wire. [Martin] then came down the road, grabbed [Bowman's] arm and stated she was scared. At this point, a car drove by and they all jumped into the woods. Then, [Martin] started walking to the car with [Bowman] following her. [Bowman] allegedly shot his gun three times. Gadson stated [Martin] ran toward him and then stopped and faced [Bowman] and told him to please not shoot her anymore because she had a child to take care of. Gadson stated [Marion Bowman] shot two more times. [Martin] fell to the ground and [Bowman] dragged her body into the woods. Gadson stated he jumped into the car.
Afterwards, [Bowman] and Gadson parked [Martin's] car and later retrieved Yolanda's car. They then went to a store to purchase beer and went back to Koger's house around 8:00 p.m. Later, Gadson stayed at Koger's house and [Bowman] left. Around 11:30 p.m., [Bowman] and Hiram Johnson approached James Gadson, Gadson's father. [Marion Bowman] gave him money to buy four pairs of gloves.
[Bowman], Gadson, Hiram Johnson, and Darian Williams, then drove to Murray's Club in [Martin's] car. [Bowman] handed out the gloves for the occupants to wear and stated he had stolen the car. They reached the club around midnight. Once at the club, [Bowman] tried to sell [Martin's] car. [Bowman], according to Hiram Johnson, said, "I killed Kandee, heh, heh, heh." [Bowman] had a gun with him while at the club. They left the club an hour or two after arriving there.
Three people, Carolyn Brown, Valorna Smith, and [] Felder, left the club together. They stopped by a gas station about 3:00 a.m. before proceeding to Valorna's home. Not long after they were there, [Bowman] knocked on the door and asked for [Felder]. [Felder] left and came back after a few minutes. He seemed normal upon his return.
[Felder] testified [Bowman], who was wearing black jeans at the time, stated he needed [Felder's] help to park a car which turned out to be [Martin's] car. [Felder] followed [Bowman] to Nursery Road. [Bowman] parked the car, went into the woods and pulled [Martin's] body out by her feet. [Bowman] then put her body in the trunk. While putting her body in the trunk, [Felder] saw a gun tucked into appellant's waist. [Bowman] allegedly told [Felder], "you didn't think I did it, did you?" [Felder] testified [Bowman] also stated, "I killed Kandee Martin." [Bowman] lit the car on fire. [Felder] then took [Bowman] to his home and went back to Valorna's house.
A resident of Nursery Road who had previously heard gunshots was awakened late in the night by a loud noise. He investigated and discovered a car on fire. The fire was reported at 3:54 a.m. There were .380 Winchester cartridge casings found not far from the scene. The casings, a blood stain, and a shoe were located with the help of a man who had driven by and seen [Martin's] car stopped on the road around 8:00 p.m. the previous evening.
The next day, police arrested [Bowman] at his wife's house and seized his black pants. His wife testified he had been wearing the pants when he arrived at the house. They found a wristwatch belonging to [Martin] in [Bowman's] pants.
After the police left, [Bowman's] wife [] found [Bowman's] gun in a chair in her home. She allegedly gave the gun to [Bowman's] father. The next day, [Bowman's] father, Yolanda, and [Bowman's] other sister, Kendra, took the gun and dropped it off a bridge into the Edisto River. It was later retrieved from the Edisto River and determined to be the gun that was used in the murder.
The arson investigator testified there was the presence of a heavy petroleum product on [Bowman's] jeans, but the product was not gasoline. The items found in the car had gasoline on them indicating that was the product used to start the fire.
While the following evidence did not come out during the guilt phase, during the sentencing phase, a video was introduced during [] Felder's testimony. The video showed [Felder] purchasing gasoline in a gasoline can at about 3:14 a.m. [Bowman] was not with him on the video. [Felder] stated [Bowman] gave him the can for the gas and told him he needed $2-3 worth. When [Bowman] set fire to [Martin's] car, he retrieved the gas can from [Felder's] car.https://casetext.com/case/bowman-v-stirling
