CNN
—
South Carolina plans to proceed with the execution of Freddie Owens on Friday. The inmate was convicted of the murder of a supermarket clerk in 1997 and would be the first person sentenced to death by the state in 13 years.
Owens, 46, is scheduled to be executed for the murder of Irene Graves, the state Department of Corrections said. The state Supreme Court again refused to stop the execution on Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, Owens has asked Gov. Henry McMaster for clemency. If McMaster decides to deny clemency on Friday, Owens’ state-ordered death would be 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 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 during a robbery, CNN affiliate WHNS reported.
Owens was 19 at the time of Graves’ killing, the AP reported. He was sentenced to death two years later after being found guilty of murder, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy, the Department of Corrections said.
Owens also confessed to killing a cellmate in 1999 while awaiting sentencing after his conviction, WHNS reported.
McMaster said he would announce his decision to grant clemency in a phone call to the prison shortly before Owens’ scheduled lethal injection begins, the AP reported. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, no one facing execution in South Carolina has been granted a clemency by a governor since 1976.
On Thursday night, the South Carolina State Supreme Court refused to stay Owens’ execution for the second time this month, despite a new affidavit signed Wednesday by his co-defendant Steven Golden, who now claims, court records show, that Owens was not present at the time of the robbery and killing.
Owens filed separate motions on Aug. 30 and Sept. 5 asking the court to stop Friday’s execution. The court said it denied both motions on Sept. 12 and saw no reason to reconsider its decision Thursday.
Golden’s affidavit also stated that he himself was not the shooter, but “swears that he knows the identity of the person,” according to a court order.
“This new affidavit is in complete contradiction to Golden’s testimony at the trial against Owens in 1999, the first resentencing in 2003, and the statement he made to police officers immediately after he was involved in the commission of the crimes in 1997,” the order states.
The court also found that Owens had previously confessed to five people, including two police officers and his girlfriend.
The South Carolina Supreme Court issued an execution warrant for Owens to the state Department of Corrections on August 23.
According to the Department of Corrections, Owens was given the choice between lethal injection, the electric chair or the firing squad two weeks ago, but court documents say he instead delegated the decision-making authority to his attorney, Emily Paavola.
According to the documents, Paavola opted for lethal injection for her client.
CNN has contacted Owens’ lawyers for comment.
Owens’ execution was scheduled for June 25, 2021, but the process was paused later 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 their executions while proceedings were completed for what was then the state’s newest method of capital punishment – death by firing squad.
In May 2021, a law went into effect in South Carolina allowing inmates to choose between execution by electric chair or firing squad if drugs for lethal injection are not available, according to the state legislature.
Because there were problems with the state’s supply of lethal injection at the time and the method of firing squad had not yet been established, death by electricity was the only method of execution, the AP reported. Owens’ and Sigmon’s lawyers argued that the state’s 109-year-old electroshock method was cruel and unusual, the AP reported.
South Carolina authorities said they would be ready to resume lethal injections in September 2023 once they have acquired the necessary drugs.
Owens’ execution is scheduled to take place around 6 p.m.
CNN’s Jamiel Lynch and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.
