South Carolina death row inmate asks governor for clemency

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina inmate scheduled to be executed Friday is asking Gov. Henry McMaster to spare his life. No governor in the state has done that since the death penalty was restarted nearly 50 years ago. McMaster has said he will stick to the historic practice of announcing his decision on the phone with the prison minutes before 46-year-old Freddie Owens’ lethal injection is scheduled to start. Owens was convicted of killing a convenience store clerk in Greenville in 1997. The clemency request says prosecutors presented no scientific evidence that he pulled the trigger.