Columbia, SC| Freddie Eugene Owens, convicted of Murder, Armed Robbery, Criminal Conspiracy, and Firearms Provision, dies by Lethal Injection at 6:55 p.m. at the Broad River Corrections Facility in Columbia, SC. Freddie Owens is South Carolina’s first execution in 13 years. South Carolina had trouble securing Lethal Injection Drugs due to the manufacturers not wanting to sell the drugs to South Carolina for fear of their names being released to the public. South Carolina passed a law sealing the names of drug manufacturers from public information called the “Shield Law,” which went into effect May 12, 2023. South Carolina went from a three-drug “cocktail” to a one-drug pentobarbital. Last-minute appeals failed at both the federal and state levels. The last-ditch effort was for Governor Henry McMaster to grant clemency. Governor McMaster declined to grant clemency to Owens, putting faith and trust in the jury and court system. Owens was put to death for the 1997 murder of Irene Grainger Graves, a convenience store clerk. Owens was 19 years old at the time of the murder. Owens was subsequently found guilty in 1999 by a Greenville County Jury.
Owens also murdered a fellow prisoner, Christopher Bryan Lee, in 1999 at the county jail while on trial for the murder of Irene Grainger Graves.
SC State Senator sent a letter to Governor McMaster urging him to stay the execution over the growing concerns.
