A death row inmate convicted of killing a single mother of three children in South Carolina is set to become the first execution in the state in more than a decade and the 14th in the nation this year , despite a key witness who testified against him now proclaiming his innocence.
Freddie Eugene Owens , 46, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. on Friday. He was convicted of killing of 41-year-old Irene Grainger Graves , who was shot in the head at the convenience store where she worked during a Halloween night robbery in 1997.
On Wednesday, Owens’ co-defendant in the robbery, Steven Golden, signed a sworn statement saying that Owens didn’t shoot Graves and was not even there that night, according to reporting by the Greenville News , part of the USA TODAY Network.
“Freddie Owens is not the person who shot Irene Graves at the Speedway on November 1, 1997,” Golden told the South Carolina Supreme Court. “Freddie was not present when I robbed the Speedway that day.”