COLUMBIA — Freddie Owens, the Greenville man convicted of murdering convenience store clerk Irene Graves on Halloween night in 1997, was executed Friday.
Owens, 46, died by lethal injection at the Broad River Correctional Institution becoming the 44th person South Carolina has put to death since 1976 when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment. His execution was the first in the state since 2011.
The U.S. 4th District Court denied a last-minute appeal from Owens’ attorney about 30 minutes before he was to be executed at 6 p.m. Gov. Henry McMaster also declined to grant a request for clemency.
The lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered at 6:36 p.m. A physician declared his time of death as 6:55 p.m.
“The sentence of Freddie Eugene Owens was carried out tonight pursuant to the order of the South Carolina Supreme Court and in accordance with state law,” South Carolina Department of Corrections spokesperson Chrysti Shain said at a press conference following the execution.