Death row inmates call for pause in executions during winter holidays • SC Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA – Lawyers for death row inmates are asking the state Supreme Court to wait until after New Year's before issuing more death warrants, court records show.

The lawyers' motion, filed last week, calls for the court to pause issuing execution notices until January 3. By law, each execution occurs four weeks after the warrant is sent, so Jan. 31 would be the next time an inmate enters the prison's death chamber if the state Supreme Court agrees.

“Six consecutive executions with virtually no reprieve will take a significant toll on everyone involved, especially at a time of year that is so important for families,” the inmates’ attorneys wrote.

After a holiday break, executions could resume at regular five-week intervals, the lawyers wrote.

Lawyers had previously asked the court to wait at least 13 weeks between executions to protect the mental health of correctional staff working in the death chamber and give them time to address any logistical problems. After prosecutors said they were prepared to carry out executions in quick succession, the Supreme Court ultimately decided on five weeks.

According to this schedule, inmate Marion Bowman was scheduled to receive a death sentence on Friday, with an execution date set for December 6. But Friday came and went without an arrest warrant or an explanation as to why the court decided not to issue the arrest warrant.

Bowman, 44, was convicted in 2002 of fatally shooting a 21-year-old Orangeburg mother who owed him money in rural Dorchester County, stuffing her body in her trunk and setting the vehicle on fire.

The SC Supreme Court will wait five weeks between death notices and order the executions

The state has already executed two inmates since September, when the state Supreme Court ended a 13-year pause by ruling that shootings and electrocutions are constitutional forms of death. Lethal injection is also an option after a secrecy law allowed correctional officers to replenish their supplies.

The state executed Freddie Owens on September 20, some 25 years after he was convicted of murdering gas station clerk Irene Graves, a 41-year-old single mother of three, during a series of robberies on Halloween night in 1997.

Richard Moore, 59, was executed Nov. 1, about 23 years after a jury convicted him of killing James Mahoney, a gas station clerk, in September 1999 in Spartanburg County.

Four inmates, all listed in last Tuesday's request for a stay, are scheduled to be executed in the coming months after their appeals have been exhausted.

While no major problems were publicly reported in the two most recent executions, a pause would give lawyers and correctional staff a chance to address potential problems and ensure that future executions proceed without incident, the attorneys wrote.

“Even under the best of circumstances, there is always a risk of wrongful executions, serious injuries and even torture,” the inmates’ lawyers wrote. “By adjusting these circumstances to provide brief respite, the court can help maintain the effectiveness of correctional staff and minimize the risk of such errors.”

Prosecutors called those concerns speculation and said nothing had gone wrong yet. Therefore, according to court documents, there is no reason to believe that there will be any problems with the upcoming executions. Media witnesses to the last two executions said the inmates did not appear to be suffering, as the Daily Gazette previously reported.

SC inmate is executed despite pleas for mercy from jury and trial judge

The state has executed prisoners during the winter months in recent years, including a series of five executions between Dec. 4, 1998, and Jan. 22, 1999, the attorney general's office wrote in response.

“The state is prepared to properly and diligently carry out its legal obligations,” the filing said.

Inmates have been aware of the execution schedule since August, when the state Supreme Court first decided to wait five weeks between warrants and announced the order in which inmates could expect to receive their death sentences. If the inmates' lawyers had a problem with the timing, they should have raised it sooner, the attorney general's office argued.