Death row inmate asks governor for clemency [Video]

A South Carolina inmate scheduled to be executed Friday is asking Gov. Henry McMaster to spare his life, something no governor in the state has done since the death penalty was restarted nearly 50 years ago. (Above video is the Thursday morning headlines for Sept. 19, 2024.)Freddie Eugene Owens, 46, is set to be the first person to be executed in South Carolina in 13 years. His lawyer chose lethal injection over the firing squad or electric chair after Owens turned the decision over to her. McMaster has said he will stick to the historic practice of announcing his decision on the phone with the prison minutes before Owens’ lethal injection is set to start. Owens is being sent to the death chamber for the killing of Greenville convenience store clerk Irene Graves in 1997. While awaiting sentencing after being found guilty in her death, Owens killed a fellow jail …