(WCIV) — A South Carolina man convicted of murder who is expected to be executed in early January, has released a four-page letter further proclaiming his innocence and seeking a new trial. Marion Bowman Jr.,44, is on death row for the killing of 21-year-old Kandee Martin in 2001. Martin was shot in the head and her body was found in the trunk of a car that had been burned. Bowman claims that he is innocent and that his lawyers were unprepared for his trial and sympathetic toward the victim. Bowman even says that his attorney, Norbert Cummings, pushed him several times to plead guilty for a crime Bowman says he did not commit. Bowman’s current lawyers filed an appeal in December asking to halt his execution until a full hearing can be held. In his first official statement since his conviction, Bowman gives his outline of the events that transpired February 16, 2001, the day that Martin was murdered. Bowman claims that Martin was a friend that he had known for years, and that he was a drug dealer at the time, frequently selling to Martin and suppling her addiction. A fact, he says, he regrets and says he is sorry for contributing to her addiction. “I am not a jurist,” Bowman said in his letter. “I am not claiming to be wiser than those appointed to help me. They were trained professionals. I just don’t want to be executed or imprisoned for life for a crime that I didn’t commit. I have done some things in life I regret. I regret the role I had in dealing to Kandee and know that her addiction probably led to her death. But I did not do this.” Bowman said another man confessed to the killing of Martin in prison, yet his lawyers never called any of the witnesses to testify in court. He also said most of the people who testified that Bowman was the killer, had their charges reduced or dropped in return. “I don’t think I have read a transcript where so many people charged in a case got deals to testify,” appeal attorney Lindsey Vann said. “And then what they said happened changed over time. It’s just unreliable.” Bowman has spent more than half his life on death row. His lawyers are asking justices to consider how he has matured during his 22 years awaiting execution. He is serving his sentence at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina. “I have a daughter that was born while I was in jail awaiting trial in Dorchester County, South Carolina,” Bowman said. “She had my first and only biological grandchild last year. I have three step-grandchildren, as well, that I consider my own. They, along with the rest of my family, mean everything. We talk every day. I can’t be with them physically, but I can still be there for them.” The Associated Press contributed to this report. Categories: Local News, News, State Tags: South Carolina