Freddie Owens was killed with a lethal injection in South Carolina on Friday evening (Pictures: AP/FOX Carolina News)
A death row inmate has been executed despite his friend’s eleventh hour confession that he lied in testimony against him to save his own life.
Freddie Owens, 46, was killed with South Carolina’s first lethal injection in 13 years on Friday evening.
Late Wednesday, Owens’ attorneys had filed a sworn statement from his friend and co-defendant, Steven Golden, in a last-ditch effort to halt the execution.
Golden stated that Owens was not at a convenience store in Greenville in 1997 when a robbery ensued and clerk Irene Graves was killed.
He said he had blamed Owens, at time time 19, for the killing because he was on cocaine and was pressured by cops. He added that he was afraid of the real killer.
‘I thought the real shooter or his associates might kill me if I named him to police. I am still afraid of that. But Freddie was not there,’ wrote Golden.
But the state Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stop the execution and Governor Henry McMaster declined to grant a clemency request.
Owens did not give a final statement.
He was pronounced dead at 6.55pm.
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