Oklahoma Execution of Marlon Harmon Awaiting New Date

Marlon Harmon, Oklahoma

Updated: Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Marlon Harmon was scheduled to be executed on Thursday, December 5, 2024, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma.  His execution has been stayed and he is awaiting a new execution date.  Forty-four-year-old Marlon is convicted of murdering 55-year-old Kamal Chowdhury on August 18, 2004, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. For the last 16 years, Marlo has resided on Oklahoma’s death row.

Marlon had a difficult childhood.  His mother was a drug addict and emotionally negated her son.  Marlon’s stepfather would also physically abuse his mother, which Marlon often witnessed.  He was frequently absent from school and often slept away from his house to avoid it.  At the age of 14, Marlon became a father.  After being in prison, Marlon was diagnosed with several mental disorders.

On the evening of August 17, 2004, Marlon Harmon picked up Jasmine Battle and asked if she wanted to rob a convenience store with him.  Q&S Food, a neighborhood convenience store owned by Kamal Chowdhury and his wife, was nearby.  Upon arriving, Harmon exited the car with a gun he had brought along.  Battle took the car and began driving around the block.  

Shortly after she started driving, Battle heard three gunshots and saw Harmon running out of the store with blood on his hands.  Frightened, Battle abandoned the car and fled.  Witnesses observed Harmon running out of the store with money in one hand and a gun in the other hand.  Kamal exited the store shortly thereafter. He was bleeding so profusely that one witness thought he had been painting with red paint.  Witnesses were able to call the police and Kamal was taken to the hospital where he died the following day.

Inside the convenience store, police discovered a large amount of blood and what appeared to be the contents of a wallet.  Kamal’s wallet and credit cards were missing.  In the day following the robbery, the credit cards were used 16 times, with the first time being 15 minutes after the shooting, a block away.  A bloody handprint left behind was found to match Harmon.  

Harmon was identified as the man running out of the convenience store by some witnesses and other evidence also linked him to the crime.  He was arrested and eventually confessed to the robbery and murder.  Harmon was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has requested that several of the upcoming scheduled executions in the state be rescheduled to allow more time between them. Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections is currently understaffed and preparing for an execution is time intensive. Drummond’s request was granted by the courts. Several executions have been rescheduled, however many, including Marlon Harmon have not yet received their new execution dates.

Pray for peace for the family of Kamal Chowdhury.  Pray for strength for the family of Marlon Harmon.  Please pray that if Marlon is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason that evidence will be provided before his execution.  Please pray that Marlon finds peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.