COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina put a third inmate to death in four months Friday as it goes through a backlog of prisoners who exhausted their appeals while the state couldn’t find lethal injection drugs.

Marion Bowman Jr. was executed at 6:27 p.m. Bowman, 44, and was convicted of murder in the shooting death of a friend whose burned body was found in the trunk of a car.

Bowman maintained his innocence since his arrest and started his final statement with “I did not kill Kandee Martin.” His lawyers said he was convicted on the word of several friends and relatives who received deals or had charges dropped by prosecutors in exchange for their testimony.

As the process began, Bowman briefly looked at his attorney, then looked back at the ceiling and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes once or twice.

Once his attorney finished reading Bowman’s final statement and poem, his breaths became heavy and he puffed his lips as he exhaled.

In less than a minute, those breaths ceased.

— The Associated Press