Freddie Eugene Owens (March 18, 1978 – September 20, 2024), alias Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, was an American man convicted and executed in South Carolina for the 1997 killing of Irene Grainger Graves, a convenience store clerk.

[1] Born in South Carolina on March 18, 1978,[2] Freddie Eugene Owens, whose mother was 18 when she gave birth to him, was placed under foster care at the age of five, and he reportedly experienced abuse and neglect from his family.

He was eventually returned to his biological mother, who married another man after separating from his birth father, who was abusive towards his wife and children.

[3][4] On November 1, 1997, in Greenville, Owens and his three friends – Lester Young, Nakeo Vance and Steven Andra Golden – went outdoors together with the intention to commit armed robbery.

They argued that, no matter how terrible the circumstances of Owens's background, they did not excuse his abhorrent actions and murderous behavior, and that he should assume full responsibility for what he did.

Examples of his misbehavior included setting fires in his cell, sexual misconduct, using vulgar language, as well as past incidents of Owens stabbing a guard and a prisoner and possessing at least seven home-made knives.

[22][21] While the legal process was ongoing in his case, Freddie Owens remained on death row at Broad River Correctional Institution while awaiting his execution.

Owens had suggested that his niece write a paper about the Nubian Queen Amanirenas, who resisted Roman rule in the ancient Kingdom of Kush.

Regularly, Owens would converse with his lawyers about the University of Timbuktu, bonobo apes, and the history of cartoon character Betty Boop.

[31] In 2023, Owens was one of the several death row inmates who filed a lawsuit to the courts of South Carolina, seeking to ban the use of firing squad and electrocution on the grounds that they were cruel and unusual punishments and would cause unnecessary pain and suffering to the condemned.

[32] The state's legal representatives submitted that the execution methods fit the existing protocols and the law did not require that death be instantaneous or painless.

[33][34] On July 31, 2024, a five-judge panel of the South Carolina Supreme Court issued its final ruling, declaring that both electrocution and firing squad were legal.

Both methods were approved by a majority of the judges (three for firing squad and four for the electric chair), which paved the way for the potential resumption of executions for all the 32 inmates on the state's death row, including Owens.

[35][36][37] At the time of this ruling, Owens and four others death row inmates – Marion Bowman Jr., Richard Bernard Moore, Brad Sigmon and Mikal Mahdi – had exhausted all avenues of appeal and were identified as the most likely candidates to be scheduled for execution following this verdict.

Should Owens not make a choice between electrocution, firing squad or lethal injection, his death sentence would be carried out by the default method of the electric chair.

[41][42] Corrections Director Bryan Stirling stated that all the methods were available: the drugs were pure and ready for use, the electric chair had been tested and found problem-free, and a firing squad had the ammunition and training to carry out executions.

[45][46] After Owens, the five inmates next slated for execution were: Steven Bixby, Richard Moore, Brad Sigmon, Marion Bowman Jr. and Mikal Mahdi.

The South Carolina Supreme Court granted his request on September 4, 2024, and allowed Owens's counsel to make the choice on his behalf.

Arte stated that at the time of his mother's murder he had recently moved to Delaware for college, and it prompted him to return to South Carolina to support his younger siblings.

[61] On September 12, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected Owens's appeal in relation to the drugs and alleged new evidence.

The judges unanimously agreed that the new evidence regarding the supposed secret deal and Owens's argument that he was not a major participant in the robbery-murder were hardly compelling enough to call for a re-opening of his case and halt his execution.

They argued that there was other evidence to prove Owens was the real murderer, and that Golden's veracity was questionable because he had changed his story at such a late date.

[71][72] While Owens was still appealing against his sentence, several anti-death penalty activists conducted a campaign to seek clemency from South Carolina's state Governor Henry McMaster.

[73][74] At this point in time, since the 1976 resumption of capital punishment, none of the governors in South Carolina, including McMaster, had ever granted clemency to a death row inmate, and McMaster, who was a former attorney general of South Carolina prior to his tenure as the incumbent governor, was known for his strong support of the death penalty.

[75][76] Hillary Taylor, Executive Director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, commented on Owens's case, stating that no one was beyond redemption and no one had the right to take a life.

He further stated that executing Owen based on alleged false testimony made by Golden to incriminate him as the shooter would be unfair and urged the governor to spare his client's life.

[86] For his final meal, Owens ordered two cheeseburgers, some french fries, a well-done ribeye steak, six chicken wings and two strawberry sodas as well as a slice of apple pie.