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South Carolina is scheduled to execute a death row inmate on Friday (September 20) after a key witness recently said he lied during trial, PEOPLE reports.
Freddie Owens, now 46, was 19 when he was found guilty of murdering store clerk Irene Graves during an armed robbery at a gas station in Greenville, South Carolina in 1997. Owens has long maintained his innocence, with his attorneys arguing that prosecutors haven't presented any scientific evidence linking him to the crime.
Just days before Owens' scheduled execution, Steve Golden, who spent 28 years in prison for his role in the murder, admitted in a sworn statement that he lied to a South Carolina jury during the 1999 trial about Owens being the gunman. In the statement, Golden wrote that Owens didn't kill Graves and wasn't at the store on the night of the shooting.
“Freddie Owens is not the person who shot Irene Graves at the Speedway on November 1, 1997,” Golden wrote in the sworn statement filed to the South Carolina Supreme Court this week. “Freddie was not present when I robbed the Speedway that day.”
According to prosecutors, Golden and Owens' ex-girlfriend previously gave statements implicating him in the crime during the 1999 trial.
Owens said he was at home and in bed during the armed robbery. His lawyers and advocacy groups have urged South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to reduce his sentence to life in prison.
In his sworn statement this week, Golden said he lied during trial because he was afraid of the real killer. Golden declined to name the alleged suspect.
“In that statement, I substituted Freddie for the person who was really with me in the Speedway that night,” Golden wrote. “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 added that he testified against Owens because prosecutors promised to “drop the death penalty and life in prison” against him.
“I took the deal,” Golden wrote.
“I don't want Freddie to be executed for something he didn't do,” he added. “This has weighed heavily on my mind and I want to have a clear conscience.”
State prosecutors argue that Golden's new statement can't be trusted because he lied during the 1999 trial.
It's still unclear whether Owens will be executed on Friday.
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