Inmate Awaits Execution Amidst Controversies Regarding Lethal Injection in South Carolina

At the heart of the controversy is an inmate in South Carolina who is scheduled for execution later this month. Freddie Eugene Owens’ lawyers filed a statement on Tuesday claiming that the state’s prison authorities didn’t provide adequate information about the lethal injection drug to make an informed decision.

Seeking Information On Lethal Drug

The legal team of Owens are pressing for the full scientific report that tested the sedative Pentobarbital. According to them, the information provided by the state only stated that the medication is stable, pure, and according to other methods in other states, potent enough for execution.

The legal team alleges that the minimal information provided is not substantial enough for Owens to decide if he wishes to proceed with lethal injection as the means of execution. They are urging the prison administration to provide the report from state scientists who undertook the testing of the drug.

Laws Protecting Drug Information

However, the state’s lawyers argue that the information about the drug should stay confidential due to a shield law that was passed in 2023. This law aims to keep certain details private, especially those that could trace back to the compounding pharmacy that made it.

South Carolina hasn’t executed inmates since 2011, majorly because the state found it difficult to find a company willing to make or sell drugs for lethal injection due to the fear of public revelation.

The Case of Freddie Owens

Owens, now 46, has been set to a date of September 20 for execution. He carried out a horrific crime of shooting a convenience store clerk in the head amidst a robbery in Greenville back in 1997. His attorneys have requested for a delay in the schedule as they’ve claimed that Owens’s co-defendant lied regarding the absence of a plea deal and a possible death sentence in a swap for his testimony.

This mystery regarding who actually fired the fatal shot is based solely upon the testimony of Steven Golden, who stated that Owens committed the murder when the store clerk struggled to open the safe. Golden ended up with a 28-year prison sentence in a case that did not present any evidence apart from his testimony.

Crying Foul Over New Execution Methods

Freddie faces a deadline by this Friday where he is expected to inform prison authorities about his preferred method of execution, either by lethal injection, electrocution, or even the newly introduced firing squad. If Owens does not make a decision, he will be put to death in the electric chair.

However, his lawyers claim that it’s not possible to make such a decision without adequate information about the lethal injection, part of a new one-drug protocol that the state will use. They insist that this decision won’t be fair unless more information about the lethal injection drug is provided.

A Call for Transparent Testing Procedure

A University of South Carolina pharmacy professor has voiced his agreement in a sworn statement that the scant details currently provided by prison officials aren’t sufficient to make an informed decision about the potency and stability of the lethal injection drug. He asserts that the affidavit does not specify the test methods used, the testing procedures followed, or the actual results of the tests.

Waiting for a Just Conclusion

As the execution day nears for this inmate, many legal issues continue to remain unanswered. Amid these controversies, the most pressing one remains how much information inmates should have access to regarding their execution method.