Key Witness’ Shocking Claim Can’t Save Freddie Owens from Execution, Says SC AG

Unless there is an unexpected last-minute intervention by the governor of South Carolina or the U.S. Supreme Court, state authorities are preparing to conduct the state’s first execution in over a decade, despite a shocking revelation by a crucial prosecution witness that the condemned man did not perpetrate the murder for which he is scheduled to die.

Freddie Owens, who legally changed his name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah while in prison, was found guilty and sentenced to death via lethal injection for the killing of 41-year-old Irene Graves, a convenience store cashier and mother of three, during a robbery in 1997.

Even though there was no physical evidence connecting the then 19-year-old to the murder, state prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of Steven Golden, a co-defendant who confessed to the crime and agreed to testify against Owens in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

This Wednesday, Golden submitted an affidavit to the South Carolina Supreme Court, stating that he lied about the true identity of Graves’ murderer.

“If this court does not grant a stay, Freddie will die for a crime he did not commit,” he penned.

However, Owens’ plea for a stay of execution was denied by the state’s highest court on Thursday.

“Freddie Owens is not the person who shot Irene Graves at the Speedway on November 1, 1997,” Golden asserted in his filing. “Freddie was not present when I robbed the Speedway that day.”

“The detectives told me they knew Freddie was with me when I robbed the Speedway,” wrote Golden, who was 18 years old at the time of the crime. “They told me I might as well make a statement against Freddie because he already told his side to everyone and they were just trying to get my side of the story.”

“I was scared that I would get the death penalty if I didn’t make a statement,” he continued. “I signed a waiver of rights form and then signed a statement on November 11, 1997.”

“In that statement, I substituted Freddie for the person who was really with me in the Speedway that night,” Golden revealed. “I did that because I knew that’s what the police wanted me to say, and also because I thought the real shooter or his associates might kill me if I named him to the police. I am still afraid of that. But Freddie was actually not there.”

Golden—who claimed he did not name the actual killer due to fear for his life—added: “I’m coming forward now because I know Freddie’s execution date is September 20 and 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.”

The office of Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson replied to Golden’s affidavit on Thursday, labeling his claim as “inherently suspect” and noting that he “has now made a sworn statement that is contrary to his multiple other sworn statements over 20 years.”

The attorney general’s response followed a federal judge’s decision on Wednesday to deny Owens’ request to halt his execution, despite his legal team’s concerns about the origin of South Carolina’s supply of the lethal injection drug, pentobarbital.

South Carolina unofficially stopped executions in 2011 due to difficulties in sourcing lethal injection drugs, as pharmaceutical companies began banning their use for capital punishment. However, the state then introduced a law to protect the identities of drug suppliers, leading to the replenishment of stocks.

In addition, the state Supreme Court ruled in July that executions by firing squad and electrocution do not violate the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, validating a 2021 law signed by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster that compels those sentenced to death to choose between the two methods of execution when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

Anti-death penalty activists delivered a petition on Wednesday, signed by over 10,000 people, urging McMaster to show mercy to Owens.

Despite the overall decrease in U.S. executions from 85 in 2000 to 24 last year, the recent surge in planned state executions has raised concerns among human rights advocates. According to Amnesty International, seven men, including Owens, are scheduled for execution in the upcoming month.

“No government should give itself the power to execute people,” Amnesty asserted on social media Thursday. “It is high time for the U.S. to join other countries that have ceased to enforce this brutal and inhumane form of punishment.”

A study conducted in 2014 estimated that at least 4% of those on U.S. death row were likely innocent.