South Carolina resumed capital punishment after a 13-year hiatus on Friday, executing 46-year-old Freddie Owens. Owens, convicted for the 1997 murder of convenience store clerk Irene Graves during a robbery in Greenville, received the death penalty after a second murder of a fellow inmate while in custody.
“Bye”: Owens’s final word before execution
The state had paused executions due to the unavailability of lethal injection drugs, marking Owens as the first inmate to be executed since the break. His final moments were eerily calm; Owens uttered no formal last words but quietly exchanged a simple “bye” with his lawyer after the lethal injection was administered.
Witnesses reported that Owens remained conscious for about a minute before closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. His breathing slowed, and within five minutes, there was no movement. He was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m., just over 10 minutes after the execution began.
A violent past
Owens’ violent history sealed his fate. In 1997, he shot Irene Graves, a single mother of three, in the head when she said she couldn’t open the store’s safe. Before his sentencing, Owens also killed fellow inmate Christopher Lee in jail. He confessed in chilling detail, explaining that he attacked Lee in rage, believing he had been wrongly convicted of murder.
Though initially charged with Lee’s murder, the case was dropped in 2019 as Owens exhausted his appeals. Prosecutors reserved the right to reinstate charges.
Final appeals rejected
Owens’ legal team filed numerous last-minute appeals, arguing there was insufficient scientific evidence linking him to Graves’ death, relying mostly on the testimony of a co-defendant. However, all attempts, including a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court, were denied. South Carolina officials urged the court to reject Owens’ appeal, citing no extraordinary circumstances in his case.
Owens, who changed his name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah while incarcerated, was ultimately executed under his birth name.
