Executions in South Carolina resumed after a 13-year hiatus, with a man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk during a robbery in 1997 being put to death on Friday.
Freddie Owens, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. at the Broad River Correctional Institution (BRCI) in Columbia, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal and petition to stay his execution.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital that his final meal consisted of two cheeseburgers, fries, a well-done rib eye steak, six chicken wings, two strawberry sodas and a slice of apple pie.
Owens was convicted of killing a Greenville convenience store clerk during a robbery in 1997. But during his trial, he killed a county jail inmate. Owens' confession to that attack was read to two jurors and the judge, who all recommended the death penalty.
South Carolina death row inmate seeks stay of execution, claims co-defendant lied about no plea deal
Freddie Eugene Owens (South Carolina Department of Corrections via The Associated Press)
Owens refused to make a final statement while strapped to the gurney, but said “goodbye” to his lawyer before losing consciousness in BRCI's execution chamber.
His final chance to avoid the death penalty was for his sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment by South Carolina's Republican governor, Henry McMaster, who also denied Owens' request for clemency, saying he had given it “careful and thoughtful consideration.”
Owens is the first South Carolina inmate to be sentenced to death in more than a decade. Five other inmates have exhausted their appeals, and the South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence. Paving the way Executions take place every five weeks.
South Carolina's first execution in more than 13 years is scheduled for next month
The Rev. Hillary Taylor protested the planned execution of Freddie Eugene Owens, 46, in Columbia, South Carolina on Friday. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
South Carolina was the first Firing squad The companies had planned to resume executions after their supplies of execution drugs expired, but no company was willing to openly sell more of the drugs to states.
The state has switched from a three-drug method of execution to a new method that uses only sedatives. PentobarbitalState prison officials say the new procedure is similar to how the federal government kills inmates, according to the Associated Press.
This undated photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the state's execution chamber in Columbia, South Carolina, with the electric chair on the right and the firing squad chair on the left. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via Associated Press/File)
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Inmates also have the right to choose between lethal injection, the new firing squad or the 1912-era electric chair.
Owens becomes a lawyer Choosing how to dieHe said he felt he would be inviting his own death if he chose to do so and that his religious beliefs condemn suicide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
