Freddie Eugene Owens: South Carolina set to carry out first execution in 13 years after securing lethal injection drugs

CNN
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Freddie Owens, a South Carolina death row inmate, died by lethal injection Friday in the state’s first execution in 13 years.

Owens, 46, was sentenced to death in 1999 for killing convenience store employee Irene Graves during a robbery in Greenville, South Carolina, when he was 19.

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay his execution, and Gov. Henry McMaster chose not to grant Owens the clemency he requested.

Owen’s attorneys filed a request for a stay of execution with the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, hours before his execution, according to court documents, but the court denied the request.

The inmate requested the emergency injunction in part because the due process violation, his attorneys say, occurred when the South Carolina Department of Corrections and Gov. McMaster failed to provide Owens with basic information about lethal injection drugs and the qualifications of the execution team, according to the emergency motion.

The state-ordered death is the first by lethal injection in the state since it regained access to the drugs needed to perform the procedure after nearly a decade of lethal injection supply problems.

Graves, a 41-year-old mother of three, was working the night shift at a Greenville store on Nov. 1, 1997, when she was shot and killed during a robbery, CNN affiliate WHNS reported.

Owens was sentenced to death two years later after being convicted of murder, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy, the Corrections Department said.

Owens also confessed to killing a cellmate in 1999 while he was awaiting sentencing after his conviction, WHNS reported.

On Thursday night, for the second time this month, the South Carolina Supreme Court refused to stop Owens’ execution despite a new affidavit signed Wednesday by his co-defendant, Steven Golden, who now claims Owens was not present at the time of the robbery and murder, court documents show.

Owens filed separate motions on Aug. 30 and Sept. 5 asking the court to stay Friday’s execution. The court said it denied both motions on Sept. 12 and saw no reason Thursday to reconsider.

Golden’s affidavit also claimed he himself was not the shooter, but “swears he knows the identity of the person,” according to a court order.

“This new affidavit is completely inconsistent with Golden’s testimony at Owens’ trial in 1999, at the first re-sentencing trial in 2003, and in the statement he made to law enforcement officers immediately after participating in the commission of the crimes in 1997,” the order reads.

The court also noted that Owens had previously confessed his crimes to five people, including two law enforcement officers and his girlfriend.

On August 23, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an execution order against Owens to the state Department of Corrections.

Two weeks ago, Owens was asked to choose between lethal injection, the electric chair and the firing squad, according to the Department of Corrections, but instead gave his attorney, Emily Paavola, the authority to make the decision, court documents show.

Paavola chose the lethal injection option for his client, according to the documents.

CNN has reached out to Owens’ attorneys for comment.

Owens’ execution was scheduled for June 25, 2021, but the process was halted that month after the state Supreme Court blocked the executions of Owens and another death row inmate, Brad Sigmon, CNN previously reported.

The court ordered a stay of executions while proceedings relating to the state’s then-new method of capital punishment – death by firing squad – were finalized.

A South Carolina law went into effect in May 2021 allowing inmates to choose between execution by electric chair or firing squad if lethal injection drugs were not available, according to the South Carolina legislature.

Because of the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs at the time and the unestablished firing squad method, death by electrocution was the only method of execution, the AP reported. Attorneys for Owens and Sigmon argued that the state’s 109-year-old electrocution method was cruel and unusual, the AP reported.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the U.S. Supreme Court’s response to Owens’ request for a stay of execution. The court had not yet ruled as of Friday afternoon.

CNN’s Jamiel Lynch and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.