Lethal Injection, Electrocution, or Firing Squad: South Carolina Death Row Inmate Must Choose Method to Die After State Resumes Executions

South Carolina is set to resume executions on Sept. 20, marking its first execution in over a decade.

Freddie Eugene Owens, a double murderer convicted of killing a store clerk in 1997, will be the first inmate executed since 2011.

For his execution, Owens will have to choose between three methods: lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad, all of which carry the risk of a painful death.

The firing squad is a new option in South Carolina. The last execution by firing squad in the US took place in Utah in 2010, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

Authorities said if Owens doesn't choose a method, he will be electrocuted by default.

The state had halted executions due to difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs, as pharmaceutical companies became reluctant to be associated with state executions.

A new law, allowing the state to keep drug suppliers confidential, and a recent Supreme Court ruling have cleared the way for executions to resume, the Mirror reported.

The state’s Department of Corrections has five days to confirm the availability of all three execution methods and ensure that the lethal injection drug is stable and correctly mixed.

Owens’ defense team is awaiting verification of the drug’s quality and potency, a concern highlighted by attorney John Blume, who criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the drug’s source.

South Carolina’s Supreme Court upheld the legality of the state’s shield law, which protects the identities of drug suppliers, and ruled that both the electric chair and firing squad are not cruel punishments.

The state now uses a single drug, pentobarbital, for lethal injections, following federal protocols.

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Owens could plead for clemency from Governor Henry McMaster, but no South Carolina governor has ever granted clemency in the modern era of the death penalty. The last execution in the state occurred in May 2011.

Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976, South Carolina has executed 43 inmates. The number of inmates on death row has decreased from 63 in 2011 to 32, due to successful appeals and natural deaths.

Alongside Owens, at least three other inmates have exhausted their appeals, signaling a potential increase in executions by the end of 2024.