Freddie Owens was put to death by lethal injection at Broad River Correctional Institution in South Carolina shortly before 7 p.m. on Friday.

A last-minute appeal and request for clemency were denied for the Greenville man convicted of killing convenience store clerk Irene Graves in 1997

Hours before inmate Freddie Owens is set to die by lethal injection in South Carolina, the friend whose testimony helped send Owens to prison is saying he lied to save himself.

Freddie Owens, who was convicted of murder in 1997, has long maintained his innocence South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP Freddie Owens South Carolina is set to execute a man on death row the evening of Friday,

South Carolina carried out its first execution in 13 years on Friday. Death row inmate Freddie Owens died by lethal injection for the 1997 killing of a convenience store clerk during a robbery. It comes after his lawyers secured a sworn affidavit from a man who now says he lied about Owens taking part in the killing.

A key witness who helped put Freddie Owens on death row now says he lied to save his own life — coming forward just days before Owens’ execution, which is still set for Friday. Steven Golden — Owens’ one-time friend and co-defendant — filed a sworn statement Wednesday saying he lied during his testimony and that Owens wasn’t with him at a South Carolina convenience store in 1997 when Irene Graves was killed in a botched robbery.

Just days before inmate Freddie Owens is set to die by lethal injection in South Carolina, the friend whose testimony helped send Owens to prison is saying he lied to save himself from the death chamber.