South Carolina in US prepares for first execution in 13 years

South Carolina is preparing for its first execution in over a decade, following a lengthy delay due to difficulties in acquiring lethal injection drugs. Freddie Eugene Owens, aged 46, is set to be executed at 6pm on Friday at a prison in Columbia. Owens was convicted for the 1997 murder of a store clerk in Greenville, who was unable to open the safe during a robbery.

Owens’ numerous last-minute appeals, including a federal court plea earlier on Friday, have been unsuccessful. His final hope for reprieve rests with Governor Henry McMaster, who could commute his sentence to life imprisonment, as reported by Associated Press.

However, McMaster has stated he would follow tradition and only announce his decision minutes before the scheduled lethal injection, after being contacted by prison officials. The Republican governor has suggested he generally defers to the decisions of prosecutors and juries, although he promised to review Owens’ clemency petition.

If the execution proceeds, Owens will be the first person to be executed in the state in 13 years. South Carolina has five other inmates who have exhausted their appeals, with state authorities preparing to hold executions every five weeks.

The state has faced significant challenges in restarting capital punishment, initially attempting to introduce a firing squad as an option after lethal injection drug supplies expired. A shield law was later enacted to keep the identity of the drug supplier confidential. South Carolina has now adopted a one-drug protocol, using the sedative pentobarbital, which mirrors the federal government’s method of execution.

Under state law, condemned inmates may choose between lethal injection, the electric chair, or the firing squad. Owens allowed his lawyer to make this decision, citing religious reasons that prohibited him from participating in his own death, equating it to suicide. Although he changed his name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah while in prison, legal and prison records continue to refer to him as Owens.

Owens was convicted in 1999 for the murder of Irene Graves, a mother of three who worked multiple jobs. Prosecutors argued that Owens shot her in the head after she was unable to open the store’s safe. He was also implicated in the brutal murder of a fellow inmate, Christopher Lee, which occurred after his conviction for the store killing but before sentencing.

In a detailed confession, Owens described how he murdered Lee, claiming he did it because he had been “wrongly convicted of murder.” This confession was read to the juries and judges who sentenced him to death.

Despite two overturned death sentences on appeal, Owens eventually found himself back on death row. His lawyers, in their final appeal, argued there was no scientific evidence proving Owens pulled the trigger in Graves’ death. They presented a sworn statement from a key witness just days before the scheduled execution, asserting that Owens had not been at the scene. Prosecutors countered this with testimony from multiple individuals, including Owens’ former girlfriend, who said he had boasted about the killing.

Gerald “Bo” King, Owens’ attorney, expressed concern, stating, “South Carolina is on the verge of executing a man for a crime he did not commit. We will continue to advocate for Mr. Owens”, as reported by AP.

Owens’ legal team also highlighted that he was only 19 at the time of the murder and had suffered brain damage from abuse while in juvenile prison. A vigil organised by South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is planned to take place outside the prison ahead of the execution.

South Carolina’s last execution occurred in May 2011. A decade of legislative struggles, which included the addition of the firing squad and the passing of the shield law, has paved the way for capital punishment to resume.

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, the state has executed 43 inmates, making it one of the leading states for executions in the early 2000s. However, due to the lengthy hiatus, the death row population has decreased from 63 in 2011 to 32 in 2024, with many inmates

(with inputs from AP)

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