South Carolina executes Freddie Owens, first death row inmate in 13 years

Freddie Owens. Photo / South Carolina Department of Corrections

A man convicted of a 1997 murder died by lethal injection Friday in the southeastern US state of South Carolina, the state’s first death row inmate executed in 13 years.

US media reported Freddie Owens, 46, was pronounced dead at 6.55pm local time after he was administered a lethal injection.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster rejected Owens’s appeal for clemency, and the Supreme Court denied a stay of execution.

Owens was convicted in 1999 of the murder of a convenience store clerk Irene Graves, a 41-year-old mother of three, during a robbery in Greenville, South Carolina on Halloween night in 1997.

According to court documents, surveillance footage at his trial showed two men wearing masks entering the store around 4.00am.

They stole US$37 from a cash register and led Graves to the back of the store, where she was shot in the head after she was unable to open a safe.

At the trial, a codefendant, Steven Golden, testified that Owens was the gunman wearing a ski mask who shot Graves. Golden, who received a lesser sentence, has since recanted his testimony.

At his execution, Owens made no final statement, but he was observed saying “bye” to his lawyer after the fatal dose was administered, according to broadcaster FOX Carolina, whose reporter witnessed the execution.

“The case of South Carolina against Freddie Owens is complete,” a prison official said after Owens was pronounced, FOX Carolina reported.

Prior to Owens, the last death row inmate executed in South Carolina was 36-year-old Jeffrey Motts on May 6, 2011.

Owens’s execution is the first of five set to take place across the United States over the course of the next week.

There have been 14 executions in the United States this year - three in Alabama, three in Texas, two in Missouri, two in Oklahoma and one each in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Utah.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 US states, while six others - Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee - have moratoriums in place.

- AFP