A South Carolina man scheduled to be executed on Friday was never at the crime scene, according to a key witness who helped secure his conviction.
Freddie Owens, 46, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Friday at a state prison in Columbia, S.C. He was convicted for the 1997 murder of convenience store clerk Irene Graves, who was fatally shot during a robbery in Greenville.
But Owens’ co-defendant, Steven Golden, said Wednesday that he lied on the stand to put Owens away and save his own life.
“Freddie was not there,” Golden wrote in a sworn statement submitted by Owens’ attorneys. “I don’t want Freddie to be executed for something he didn’t do. This has weighed heavily on my mind, and I want to have a clear conscience.”
Though Golden was one of two robbers holding up the convenience store when Graves was killed, prosecutors argued there was plenty of other evidence of Owens’ guilt. Owens confessed to officers, friends and his girlfriend at the time, according to authorities.
Graves was fatally shot on Nov. 1, 1997, when two men burst into the convenience store and demanded she open the safe. Golden admitted to being one of the men and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
The other man fatally shot Graves after complaining she took too long opening the safe. At trial, Golden identified that man as Owens, but in his statement Wednesday, he claimed it was someone else. He did not name the other person.
Various courts have denied Owens’ appeals. His last, best hope is for Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. McMaster has said he won’t weigh in until prison officials call him minutes before the execution, as they are required to do under law.
South Carolina hasn’t executed anyone since 2011 because they struggled to obtain drugs for lethal executions. In addition to Owens, five more prisoners sit on the state’s death row and have exhausted their appeals.
With News Wire Services
