The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected what is likely the final appeal of a South Carolina inmate the day before his scheduled execution for a 2001 killing of a friend found dead in her burning car.

South Carolina is set to execute its third inmate since September, as the state works through a backlog of death row prisoners. Marion Bowman Jr.'s execution is scheduled for Friday evening.

At 6:10 p.m. the letter from McMaster was sent to the department of corrections to decline executive clemency for Bowman. A short time later, the Associated Press reported Bowman's execution was carried out. This was the third execution in South Carolina since September 2024.

Marion Bowman Jr. was convicted of shooting and killing a young mother, 21 year-old Kandee Martin, in Dorchester County, South Carolina

Death row inmate Marion Bowman Jr., a 44-year-old Dorchester County native, is scheduled to be executed Friday night, marking 2025's first execution in South Ca

The South Carolina Department of Corrections shares details after carrying out the execution of of Marion Bowman Jr., the third inmate put to death in four months Friday. (AP video: Erik Verduzco)

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster denied clemency for the man set to be executed Friday night for a 2001 Dorchester County murder.

A South Carolina inmate was executed on Friday night in Columbia for a 2001 murder. Marion Bowman Jr. was set to die by lethal injection for a 2001 killing of a friend who was found dead in her burning car in Dorchester County.

Bucky Bruce 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

Bowman is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. on Friday at a Columbia, South Carolina prison for the killing of 21-year-old Kandee Martin.

The corrections officer who shot the unprovoked pepper spray was fired and charged with a crime because of the incident.