South Carolina justices deny halt to state’s first execution in 13 years

The South Carolina Supreme Court has denied a request to halt the execution of Freddie Owens, scheduled for next week. This will mark the state’s first execution in 13 years.

The justices unanimously dismissed two appeals from Owens’ defense team. They sought a hearing to present new evidence related to what they described as a secret arrangement that kept a co-defendant off death row and addressed concerns regarding a juror’s realization that Owens had been wearing a stun belt during his 1999 trial.

According to the court, this new evidence, alongside arguments claiming that Owens’ death sentence was overly severe—given that a jury did not definitively determine he fired the fatal shot—did not meet the necessary “exceptional circumstances” required to reopen the case for further appeal.

It is generally difficult to obtain new trials for death row inmates once all appeals have been exhausted. Owens’ lawyers indicated that previous attorneys had extensively examined his case, but these particular details only emerged as the execution drew near.

The ruling ensures that Owens’ execution will proceed as scheduled on September 20 at the Broad River Correctional Institution located in Columbia.

South Carolina’s last execution occurred in May 2011. Although the state did not intentionally pause executions, a shortage of lethal injection drugs and a reluctance from suppliers to sell them—if the purchase details were disclosed—led to the halt. It took ten years of legislative efforts to resume capital punishment, which included the introduction of firing squad executions and the passage of a confidentiality law regarding lethal drugs.

Owens, now 46 years old, was sentenced to death for the murder of Irene Graves, a convenience store clerk, in 1997. Co-defendant Steven Golden testified that Owens shot Graves in the head after she was unable to access the store safe.

While surveillance footage captured events inside the store, it did not provide a clear view of the shooting. Prosecutors were unable to locate the weapon involved and did not include any scientific evidence linking Owens to the crime at his trial. After Owens’ death sentence was overturned, prosecutors later suggested that the actual shooter was masked, while the accomplice, Golden, used a different disguise.

Golden received a reduced sentence of 28 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Despite this, his claims during Owens’ trial indicated there was no agreement to lessen his punishment. Recently, he swore that he had negotiated a deal with prosecutors, which Owens’ legal team argues could have swayed jurors who relied heavily on Golden’s testimony.

The South Carolina Supreme Court found that Golden’s claims were insufficient to postpone Owens’ execution. They stated that regardless of whether Owens was the direct perpetrator, he was deeply complicit in the murder and robbery, demonstrating a blatant disregard for human life while engaging in extremely dangerous criminal behavior.

Owens still has a slim opportunity to have his death sentence commuted; Governor Henry McMaster holds the authority to reduce his sentence to life imprisonment. McMaster has indicated that he will not announce his decision until shortly before the execution occurs, maintaining a long-standing tradition of keeping details under wraps until the last moment.

As of now, McMaster has not publicly made a decision on Owens’ case, although he has expressed respect for jury verdicts and judicial rulings.

On the same day, death penalty opponents gathered outside the governor’s office, urging him to grant clemency to Owens. Rev. Hillary Taylor, the Executive Director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, emphasized the idea of redemption, noting that no one is solely defined by their worst actions.

Critics, including Rev. David Kennedy from the NAACP, highlighted concerns regarding racial disparities in capital punishment, pointing out that Owens is Black in a state with a troubling history of racially biased executions. Kennedy stated firmly, “No one should take a life. Not even the state of South Carolina. Only God can do that.”