South Carolina Supreme Court rejects claim inmate didn’t kill clerk and refuses to stop execution

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has again refused to stop the execution of inmate Freddie Owens, who is set to die Friday by lethal injection. The justices ruled Thursday that a sworn statement from a friend who testified against Owens but now says he lied is not enough to stop the execution. The justices say there is other testimony Owens is the killer and he failed to name who else allegedly pulled the trigger. Owens is set to die at 6 p.m. Friday at a Columbia prison for the killing of a Greenville convenience store clerk in 1997.