Lawyers for the South Carolina inmate scheduled to be put to death later this month said Tuesday state prison officials didn’t provide enough information about the drug to decide whether he wants to die by lethal injection. Freddie Owens’ attorneys want prison administrators to provide the actual report from state scientists who tested the sedative pentobarbital. The state provided just a summary that said the drug is stable, pure and — based on similar methods in other jurisdictions — potent enough to kill, the Associated Press reports. Attorneys for the state have argued a shield law passed in 2023 keeps many details about the drug private because they could be used to track the compounding pharmacy that made it. South Carolina hasn’t put an inmate to death since 2011 in part because the state struggled to get a company to sell or make the drugs needed for a lethal injection out of fear of being publicly identified.
How much information should be released to a condemned inmate is one of several pending legal issues before the South Carolina Supreme Court as Owens’ execution date nears. He is scheduled to be put to death Sept. 20 for shooting a Greenville convenience store clerk in the head during a 1997 robbery. His lawyers last week asked for a delay, saying Owens’ co-defendant lied about having no plea deal and possibly facing the death penalty in exchange for his testimony. Steven Golden ended up with a 28-year sentence in a case where no evidence was presented about who fired the fatal shot beyond Golden’s testimony that Owens killed the clerk because she struggled to open the store’s safe. Owens’ attorneys want more time to argue he deserves a new trial because of new evidence, including a juror saying they were able to see a stun belt Owens had to wear to assure good behavior during his trial. The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Owens can allow his lawyer to decide the method of execution. Owens said physically signing the form would be like suicide and a sin in his Muslim faith because he would take an active role in his own death.
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