South Carolina prepares for first execution in 13 years
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina is set to execute its first inmate in 13 years after an unintended pause because the state could not obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections. Forty-six-year-old Freddie Eugene Owens is scheduled to die Friday evening at a Columbia prison. He was convicted of the 1997 killing of a clerk who could not get the safe open at a Greenville convenience store. Owens’ last-ditch appeals were denied last week and again on Thursday. His last chance to avoid death is for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. McMaster says he won’t announce his decision until minutes before the execution is set to begin.
