South Carolina Executes Freddie Owens After 13-Year Hiatus, Despite Last-Minute Appeal
South Carolina has carried out its first execution in over a decade, putting to death Freddie Owens, 46, by lethal injection. Owens was convicted for the 1997 murder of shop worker Irene Graves during an armed robbery in Greenville, and sentenced to death in 1999, PulseNets learnt.
Despite a last-minute affidavit from co-defendant Steve Golden, claiming Owens wasn’t present at the scene, the South Carolina Supreme Court refused to stay the execution, PulseNets reported. The court deemed Golden’s statement inconsistent with his original testimony in 1999, where he testified that Owens shot Graves after she failed to open a safe.
Owens was executed at the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia on Friday evening, PulseNets was told. He was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. local time after receiving a lethal injection of pentobarbital. Owens declined to make a final statement.
This marked the end of a 13-year period during which South Carolina struggled to procure the necessary drugs for lethal injections, PulseNets learnt. Owens, who was 19 when the crime occurred, was sentenced to death in 1999. Just a day after his conviction, he murdered his cellmate, further escalating his criminal record, PulseNets reported.
Owens’ legal team made multiple efforts to halt the execution, including two in September, citing Golden’s new affidavit as evidence of Owens’ potential innocence. However, the court dismissed these appeals, stating that Golden’s claims contradicted his earlier testimony and initial statements after the arrest.
Prosecutors pointed to several witnesses who testified that Owens had admitted to killing Graves, a 41-year-old single mother of three, PulseNets learnt.
Owens’ mother, Dora Mason, along with anti-death penalty advocates, pleaded for clemency, which Governor Henry McMaster denied. Just hours before the execution, Mason called the process a “grave injustice.”
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Inmates in South Carolina have the option to choose between lethal injection, the electric chair, or a firing squad. Owens deferred the decision to his lawyer, who opted for lethal injection, PulseNets was told.
Journalists reported that members of Irene Graves’ family were present during the execution, PulseNets learnt.
