State Senator Deon Tedder (pictured) today shared a letter he sent to Governor Henry McMaster urging him to stay the execution of Freddie Owens (aka Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah). Owens is scheduled to be executed today at 6 p.m. South Carolina’s last execution took place in May of 2011, just over 13 years ago.
You can read Senator Tedder’s letter to the governor below:
Governor McMaster:
I am writing you to request that you stay the execution of Mr. Freddie Owens, who is set to be executed today at 6:00pm.
While I understand he was convicted and sentenced by our justice system, new information has recently been revealed by a key witness in the case. As you know and many have seen, Mr. Owens’ codefendant Steven Golden recently signed a sworn statement attesting that Mr. Owens did not shoot the victim and was not even present at the scene during the robbery that took place. The codefendant, who the state heavily relied on as a credible witness when this case was being heard, went even further to say that he was coerced to say Mr. Owens was the shooter. He further stated that he feared the real shooter or his associates would kill him if he named that person, so he lied.
I believe this new sworn written statement from the codefendant, Steven Golden, is enough to stay the execution that is set to take place today. In light of these new developments, the government has a duty to thoroughly vet this new information before carrying out an execution that has been pending for years. If the government moves forward with the execution of Mr. Owens, this would be the state’s first execution in 13 years. This is not a matter of whether or not we agree with the death penalty as a punishment in general, it is imperative that our state get it right when carrying out actions that cannot be undone.
I have received a number of calls from concerned citizens in our state that the responsible thing to do is to stay the execution until this information can be confirmed and investigated. We do not want South Carolina to carry out its first execution in over a decade on the wrong person. If the state relied heavily on Steven Golden’s testimony and found him credible enough to place Mr. Owens at the scene of the crime, the state should carefully consider its actions today after that same man revealed in a sworn statement that he was coerced to falsify information about Mr. Owens and that Mr. Owens, in fact, was never at the store during the robbery.
I pray that you will make the right decision here and at least consider the new information relevant enough to stay the execution for now.
Kind regards,
Deon T. Tedder
