South Carolina executed its first dying row inmate in 13 years, administering a deadly injection to Freddy Owens.
Owens, 46, was convicted by a jury of killing retailer employee Erin Graves throughout an armed theft in Greenville in 1997.
Owens was executed despite the fact that his co-defendants signed a sworn assertion this week claiming he was not current in the course of the theft and killing.
The South Carolina Supreme Court docket refused to halt Owens’ execution, saying the claims had been inconsistent together with his testimony at trial.
Owens was executed Friday evening at Broad River Correctional Facility in Columbia, South Carolina.
He was pronounced useless at 18:55 native time (22:55 GMT) after being injected with a drug referred to as pentobarbital. He didn’t subject a ultimate assertion.
His dying adopted a moratorium on executions within the state as a result of jail officers had been unable to buy the medicine wanted for deadly injections.
Owens was convicted of homicide, armed theft and felony conspiracy in 1999, two years after killing Graves, and was sentenced to dying.
The day after he was discovered responsible, he killed a fellow inmate in jail, CNN affiliate WHNS reported.
Owens, then 19, and Steve Golden, then 18, held Graves at gunpoint in an try and rob the comfort retailer the place she labored, in response to an account of his trial within the South Carolina newspaper The State.
Based on testimony given by Golden at Owens’ trial, Owens shot Graves after she didn’t open a protected below the counter.
On the time of her dying, Graves was 41 and a single mom of three.
Owens’ attorneys have tried a number of instances to dam his execution, together with twice in September. However the courtroom rejected every request.
Of their newest try, attorneys pointed to an affidavit signed by Golden on Wednesday through which he claimed Owens was harmless.
The courtroom rejected the request to remain the execution, saying the brand new affidavit was “utterly inconsistent with Golden’s testimony at Owens’ 1999 trial and the statements he gave to police after his arrest.”
Prosecutors stated different witnesses testified that Owens instructed them he shot Graves.
Anti-death penalty advocates and Owens’ mom additionally referred to as for clemency from the state, however Gov. Henry McMaster refused.
Hours earlier than Owens was executed, his mom stated in a press release that it was a “grave injustice perpetrated in opposition to my son.”
“Freddie has maintained his innocence from day one,” stated his mom, Dora Mason, in response to native information outlet The Greenville Information.
Inmates in South Carolina can select between deadly injection, the electrical chair or a firing squad.
Owens left the choice to his lawyer, who selected deadly injection for him, The Greenville Information reported.
Reporters who witnessed the execution stated Graves’ household was additionally current.
