Freddie Owen’s Final Words Before South Carolina Execution

A South Carolina death row inmate became the first person to be executed in the state in 13 years on Friday.
Freddie Owens was put to death by lethal injection at Broad River Correctional Institution shortly before 7 p.m. local time.
He was on death row for the 1997 murder of a convenience store worker Irene Graves in Greenville, South Carolina, during an armed robbery. He was 19 years old at the time. While on trial, he killed his cellmate Christopher Lee at the Greenville County Detention Center.
Owens, 46, made no final statement on Friday, but simply said “bye” to his lawyer when the drug was administered while strapped to a gurney, according to The Associated Press. His lawyer replied by saying “bye.”
He appeared to lose consciousness after around a minute of the drug pentobarbital being administered, closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. His breathing subsequently became shallower and his face twitched for another five minutes before he stopped moving, The AP reported. A doctor declared him dead at 6.55 p.m..
Family members of Graves and Lee were present at execution and stared at Owens throughout the execution, according to Fox Carolina. Owens’ final meal included two cheeseburgers, French fries, a well-done ribeye steak, six chicken wings, two strawberry sodas and apple pie.
As part of the final appeal, Owens’ attorneys said that scientific evidence was never presented proving that he had pulled the trigger when Graves was killed.
The lawyers also provided a sworn statement on Wednesday from a co-defendant, Steven Golden, saying that Owens was innocent, which contradicted his trial testimony.
“Freddie Owens is not the person who shot Irene Graves at the Speedway on November 1, 1997,” Golden said in the statement filed to the South Carolina Supreme Court. “Freddie was not present when I robbed the Speedway that day.”
The attorneys also said that Owens had brain damage from physical and sexual violence while in juvenile prison.
“Mr. Owens’s childhood was marked by suffering on a scale that is hard to comprehend. He spent his adulthood in prison for a crime that he did not commit,” attorney Gerald “Bo” King said after Owens’ execution. “The legal errors, hidden deals, and false evidence that made tonight possible should shame us all.”
The South Carolina Supreme Court refused to halt the execution, and Governor Henry McMaster rejected an application for clemency.
Owens’ execution was the first in the state for 13 years after its supply of lethal injection drugs expired and no manufacturers were willing to sell them publicly. The state passed a shield law to keep drug suppliers and much of the execution protocol secret in order to restart executions.