After more than a decade without an execution, South Carolina has taken a controversial step by executing its first inmate in 13 years.
Freddie Owens received a fatal injection, making it the state of South Carolina's first execution of a death row inmate in thirteen years.
A jury found 46-year-old Owens guilty of killing Irene Graves, a shop employee, in a 1997 armed robbery in Greenville.
Even though Owens' co-defendant signed a sworn declaration last week asserting Owens wasn't there when the robbery and slaying occurred, he was nevertheless killed.
The Supreme Court of South Carolina declined to stay Owens' execution, stating that the allegations were at odds with the evidence presented at his trial.
On Friday night, Owens was put to death at the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina.
He received a pentobarbital injection, and at 18:55 local time (22:55 GMT), it was declared that he was dead. He did not say anything more.
His passing occurred after the state's executions were suspended due to prison officials' inability to get the medication needed for lethal injections.
