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 whose testimony helped convict Owens and who now says he lied to save himself from the death chamber wasn't enough to halt prison officials from putting Owens to death.
His execution is set for Friday at 6 p.m. at a Columbia prison for the killing of a Greenville convenience store clerk in 1997. It would be South Carolina's first execution in more than a decade.
Owens' lawyers on Wednesday filed the statement from his co-defendant Steven Golden saying Owens wasn’t at the store when Irene Graves was killed during a robbery. They said they were disappointed by the justices' decision.
“South Carolina is on the verge of executing a man for a crime he did not commit," attorney Gerald “Bo” King said in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for Mr. Owens.”
Prosecutors reiterated that several other witnesses testified that Owens told them he pulled the trigger. And just like it did last week when Golden said in a sworn statement he had a a secret deal with prosecutors that he never told the jury about, the state Supreme Court agreed the execution should go on.
The justices wrote on Thursday that there was no evidence Golden had an independent attorney to talk to about his recent statements and they did not name who might have killed Graves if Owens didn't do it.
In his statement, Golden said he blamed Owens because he was high on cocaine and police put pressure on him by claiming they already knew the two were together and that Owens was talking. Golden also said he feared 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,” Golden wrote in his statement.
Golden testified at Owens' trial, saying prosecutors promised to consider his testimony in his favor but he still faced the death penalty or life in prison. He was eventually sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, according to court records.
"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," Golden wrote in his statement.
Prosecutors have said Golden wasn't the only evidence linking Owens to the crime since other friends testified that they, along with Owens, had planned to rob the store. Those friends said Owens bragged to them about killing Graves. His former girlfriend also testified that he confessed to the killing.
Prosecutors argued last week that Golden's decision to change his story shouldn't be enough to stop the execution because he has now admitted to lying under oath, thereby showing that he cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
“There is no indication that Golden will testify; there is no reasoning to why Owens would admit the shooting (of) Ms. Graves to officers, his girlfriend, and his mother if he was not the shooter as now claimed,” the state Attorney General's Office wrote in court papers.
Also on Thursday, a group called South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty presented a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to Gov. Henry McMaster's office asking him to reduce Owens' sentence to life in prison.
“Justice works for restoration. You cannot restore someone who you kill,” said the group's executive director, Rev. Hillary Taylor, as she read from one of the comments on the petition.
McMaster, a Republican, has said he will wait to announce his decision on clemency until prison officials call him minutes before the execution begins.
Owens would be the first person executed in South Carolina in 13 years after the state struggled to obtain drugs needed for lethal injections because companies refused to sell them if they could be publicly identified.
The state added a firing squad option and passed a shield law to keep much of the details of executions private. The state Supreme Court then cleared the way for the death chamber to reopen this summer.
Five other inmates are also out of appeals and the state can schedule executions every five weeks.
South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and tore homes to pieces, flooded streets and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.
At least eight people were dead, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized.
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
As residents assessed damage to their property, about 2.4 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us. But the state’s vital tourism industry started to return to normal, with several theme parks preparing to reopen. The state's busiest airport was also scheduled to fully reopen Friday.
Flooding from Milton's heavy rains was still causing problems. Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office were assisting with rescues of people stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River on Friday morning. The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.
In Riverview, named because of its proximity to the Alafia River, a small bridge over a culvert washed out, blocking Canadian Del Ockey from the home where he spends the six coldest months of the year. He has no idea when it might be replaced.
Ockey made it down to his property on Sunday. He’s used to hurricanes, having built this home 26 years ago, but he said Milton was different.
“We’ve had seven or eight of them come before, but nothing like this one. This was big-time,” Ockey said.
A flood of vehicles headed south Thursday evening on Interstate 75, the main highway that runs through the middle of the state, as relief workers and evacuated residents returned to assess the aftermath. Bucket trucks and fuel tankers streamed by, along with portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles.
As residents raced back to find out whether their homes were destroyed or spared, finding gas was still a challenge. Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two and a half hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.
Natasha Ducre and her husband, Terry, were just feeling lucky to be alive. Milton peeled the tin roof off of their cinderblock home in their neighborhood a few blocks north of the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa. She pushed to leave as the storm barreled toward them Wednesday night after he resisted evacuating their three-bedroom house where he grew up and where the couple lived with their three kids and two grandchildren. She believes the decision saved their lives.
They returned to find the roof of their home scattered in sheets across the street, the wooden beams of what was their ceiling exposed to the sky. Inside, fiberglass insulation hung down in shreds, their belongings soaked by the rain and littered with chunks of shattered drywall.
“It ain’t much, but it was ours. What little bit we did have is gone,” she said. “It’s gone.”
With shelters no longer available and the cost of a hotel room out of reach, they plan to cram into Terry Ducre's mother’s house for now. After that, they’re not sure.
“I don’t have no answers,” Natasha Ducre said. “What is my next move? What am I going to do?”
Meanwhile, Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld reopened Friday after an assessment of the effects of the storm.
Orlando International Airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers also reopened Friday.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and Patrick Space Force Base near Cocoa Beach remain closed, with only authorized personnel allowed on the bases. MacDill, home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, experienced some damage and flooding, Air Force officials said. Patrick was spared any significant damage.
Milton prevented Simon Forster, his wife and their two children from returning to Scotland as planned Wednesday evening, so they enjoyed an extra two days of their two-week vacation on a bustling International Drive in Orlando’s tourism district on Thursday. Hurricanes seem to follow them since 2022's Hurricane Ian kept them from returning to Scotland after another Orlando vacation.
“Two extra days here — there are worse places we could be," he said.
This story has been edited to correct the last name of the couple whose home was severely damaged. It is Ducre, not Shannon.
Payne and Daley reported from Palmetto, Florida. Associated Press journalists Holly Ramer and Kathy McCormack in New Hampshire; Terry Spencer in Matlacha, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; Michael Goldberg in Minneapolis; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Lolita Baldor in Washington; and Ken Miller in Edmond, Oklahoma, contributed to this report.
A bridge going over a small creek is seen damaged by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. The road is the only access point into a community. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A lifeguard hut is on its side after Hurricane Milton at Clearwater Beach, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
Clean up continues at Clearwater Beach, Fla., after Hurricane Milton on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
FILE - Neighborhoods with debris from tornadoes are visible in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 10, 2024, in Fort Pierce, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Public work employees remove sand that was pushed to the streets by wind and storm surge from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Renel Prophet carries a chainsaw to get it repaired after it broke while cleaning out down trees in his property, which became unaccessible during Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Public work employees remove sand from the roadways, that was pushed to the streets by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge from Hurricane Milton, that leads onto his property, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge to his property from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A man who identified himself as Jesse walks out through floodwaters of the Anclote River after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
A tree toppled by Hurricane Milton lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A truck drives down a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A broken sign and other debris lie alongside Gilligan's Island Bar & Grill after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
People from Sarasota, Fla., visit a familiar beach on Siesta Key, Fla., which they say was already decimated by Hurricane Helene, and lost feet more of sand coverage in Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A car backs up after encountering deeper water on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Natasha Ducre surveys the kitchen of her devastated home, which lost most of its roof during the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Palmetto, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Ducre, her husband, three children, and two grandkids rode out the storm in a government shelter and returned to find their home unlivable and much of their furniture and belongings destroyed by rainwater. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A piece of debris is wrapped high around a tree in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A tree lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A pick up drives past a guard gate on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Flood waters recede after Hurricane Milton, on streets where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene flooding, sit outside many homes, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
