September Executions: Freddie Eugene Owens

September will be a (relatively) busy day for executions. The first is the return of the death penalty to South Carolina after over a decade.  

We earlier discussed how the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld its death penalty. Two justices argued the firing squad violated the state constitution and one justice added that so did the electric chair, which is the default if someone does not pick. 

Freddie Eugene Owens chose lethal injection but his lawyers argue that the state did not provide enough information about the drugs to be used. South Carolina, it is argued, did not provide proper information regarding how the drugs, which are sensitive to temperature, light, and moisture, would be stored.  There have been repeated problems in recent years with lethal injection.

Owens was 19 when he and an 18-year-old accomplice shot and killed a clerk (a single mother of three) during a robbery in November 1997. The accomplice was sentenced to prison in return for a plea deal. Owens denies his guilt. 

Owens then -- less than twelve hours after his conviction -- killed a fellow inmate in prison for a traffic offense. Why the two even came into contact is my question. The inmate allegedly, rather unwisely, taunted Owens about the sentence.

The second murder is not the basis of the death sentence though it is basically in reserve if necessary. His lawyers tried to appeal to the jury regarding his bad childhood. His age was also a possible mitigating factor. Some experts argue twenty-one should be the dividing line when handing down sentences. 

There allegedly were certain due process problems with his death sentence, including that his co-defendant who testified against him lied about having no plea deal in exchange for his testimony. 

A last minute change of testimony also didn't help. The co-defendant, now, claims Owens is not the person involved. He is afraid to say who was. Did not convince the courts including with other evidence. 

It did lead to another last minute Supreme Court appeal, which was rejected without comment, except noting Sotomayor (without explanation) would have granted the stay of execution. Why can't they say why?! Someone's life is at stake. 

These disputes delayed the execution along with an over a decade moratorium helped by a shortage of lethal injection drugs. This shortage led the state to provide back-ups: the firing squad and electric chair. 

The delay brings in the "Glossip problem," (or one of them), the constitutional problem with long delays before execution (Breyer dissent).  What is the public interest in executing someone after thirty years? 

Owens asked the governor to commute the sentence -- which would only be announced minutes before the execution (a stupid bit of drama) -- even though no governor did that since executions began again in the 1970s. Not surprisingly, precedent was not set.

A nineteen-year-old murdering someone in a robbery does not appear to me to be the "worse of the worst" sort of crime that warrants the special penalty of death. It's horrible a young mother (though I doubt he knew that) was murdered. Warrants a long prison term. The victim is not being ignored there. 

The second murder while in prison is more suitable though that is not what is being used.  Again, I put that on the state to some degree for not properly isolating him from someone in for a minor offense. 

I still believe that our death penalty is akin to that old story (The Lottery) about a ritual selection by a community to kill someone by lot. It is a tradition meant to protect us. 

Who is executed is not as important as ensuring enough people are to keep the evil at bay.  Some people executed are more heinous than others. 

The arbitrariness remains. Four executions are scheduled next week. Watch this space.