South Carolina carries out its first execution in 13 years by lethal injection

() – South Carolina death row inmate Freddie Owens died by lethal injection Friday in the state’s first execution in 13 years.

It was the first by lethal injection since South Carolina regained access to medication necessary to carry out the procedure after almost a decade of problems in the provision of lethal injections.

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

Owens was 19 years old at the time of Graves’ murder, AP reported. He was sentenced to death two years later after being convicted of murder, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy, according to the corrections department.

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

McMaster said he would announce his clemency decision in a phone call with the prison moments before Owens’ lethal injection was scheduled to begin, AP reported. No person sentenced to execution in South Carolina has received clemency from a governor since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

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, now claiming 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 halt Friday’s execution. On Sept. 12, the court denied both motions and on Thursday saw no reason to reconsider its decision.

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

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

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

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

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

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

has reached out to Owens’ attorneys for comment.

Owens’ execution had been 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, previously reported.

The court ordered a pause in their executions while procedures were finalized for the state’s then-new method of capital punishment: death by firing squad.

In May 2021, a South Carolina law went into effect that allowed inmates to choose between execution in the electric chair or in a firing squad if lethal injection drugs were not available, according to the South Carolina Legislature.

Amid the state’s lethal injection drug supply problems at the time and with the firing squad method not yet established, death by electrocution was the only method of execution, AP reported. Attorneys for Owens and Sigmon argued that the state’s 109-year-old electrocution method was cruel and unusual, according to AP.

South Carolina authorities declared in September 2023 that they were prepared for resume lethal injections after acquiring the necessary drugs.

‘s Jamiel Lynch and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.