Man claims he lied when testifying against inmate facing execution

COLUMBIA, SC — The Supreme Court of the State of South Carolina has again refused to stop the execution of inmate Freddie Owens, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Friday.

The judges ruled Thursday that the affidavit of a friend whose testimony helped secure Owens' conviction and who now says he lied to avoid the execution chamber did not stop prison officials from executing Owens.

His execution is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. in a prison in Columbia. The defendant is accused of killing a store clerk in Greenville in 1997. It would be the first execution in South Carolina in over a decade.

Owens' attorneys on Wednesday submitted the statement of his co-defendant Steven Golden, in which he said Owens was not in the store when Irene Graves was killed during a robbery. They said they were disappointed with the judge's decision.

“South Carolina is on the brink of executing a man for a crime he did not commit,” attorney Gerald “Bo” King said in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for Mr. Owens.”

Prosecutors reiterated that several other witnesses testified that Owens told them he pulled the trigger. And just as last week, when Golden said in a sworn statement that he had a secret deal with prosecutors that he never told the jury about, the state Supreme Court agreed that the execution should go ahead.

The judges wrote Thursday that there was no evidence that Golden had an independent attorney with whom he could discuss his recent statements. Nor did they name the people who might have killed Graves if it wasn't Owens.

In his testimony, Golden said he blamed Owens because he was under the influence of cocaine and police pressured him by claiming they already knew the two were together and that Owens was talking. Golden also said he was afraid of the real killer.

“I thought the real shooter or his accomplices would kill me if I reported him to the police. I'm still afraid of that. But Freddie wasn't there,” Golden wrote in his statement.

Golden testified at Owens' trial and said prosecutors had promised to consider his testimony in his favor, but he still faced the death penalty or life in prison. He was ultimately sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter, court records show.

“I am speaking out now because I know Freddie's execution date is September 20th and I do not want Freddie to be executed for something he did not do. This has weighed heavily on my mind and I want to have a clear conscience,” Golden wrote in his statement.

Prosecutors have said Golden is not the only evidence linking Owens to the crime, as other friends testified that they plotted with Owens to rob the store. Those friends said Owens bragged to them about killing Graves. His ex-girlfriend also testified that he confessed to the murder.

Prosecutors argued last week that Golden's decision to change his story should not be enough to prevent the execution because he has now admitted to lying under oath, showing that he cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

“There is no indication that Golden will testify; there is no reason why Owens would admit to shooting Ms. Graves to police officers, his girlfriend and his mother if he was not the shooter, as is now alleged,” the state Attorney General's Office wrote in court documents.

Also Thursday, a group called South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty delivered a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to Governor Henry McMaster's office urging him to reduce Owens' sentence to life in prison.

“Justice seeks reparations. You cannot make reparations for someone you kill,” said the group's executive director, Rev. Hillary Taylor, as she read one of the comments on the petition.

McMaster, a Republican, said he would wait to announce his decision on the pardon until prison officials called him a few minutes before the execution was scheduled to begin.

Owens would be the first person to be executed in South Carolina in 13 years. The state has had difficulty obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injections because companies refused to sell them if their identities were public knowledge.

The state has created the possibility of execution by firing squad and passed a law ensuring that many execution details remain secret. The state Supreme Court then cleared the way for the execution chamber to reopen this summer.

Five other prisoners also have no appeals pending, and the state can schedule executions every five weeks.