Doubts about guilt swirl around South Carolina death row inmate day before execution

This story was updated to add new information.

A deeply troubled South Carolina inmate scarred by a traumatic childhood wrote letters on death row that at times threaten the ones he loves in chilling terms and at others show a vulnerable man who describes himself as being "fragile as a child." And now a man who testified against him says he's innocent.

The inmate, Freddie Eugene Owens, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Friday in South Carolina. If it moves forward, it will be the state's first execution in 13 years and the 14th execution in the nation this year. It's also the first of five executions the United States is carrying out in a six-day period between Sept. 20 and 26.

Owens, 46, was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing 41-year-old Irene Graves during a convenience store robbery on Halloween night in 1997. Owens, who was 19 at the time, has always maintained his innocence and fought his death sentence.

"(I'm) labeled as a 'thug,' 'killer,' 'robber,' and a person without remorse for the weak, but they're wrong. I'm as fragile as a child," Owens wrote in a letter to a woman he loved in 1998. ''People seem to forget one thing about us 'brothers' who are locked up, just because we've made mistakes and are accused of crimes or violence. We have souls and feelings ? but most important we are also human."

On Wednesday, Owens' co-defendant in the robbery, Steven Golden, signed a sworn statement saying that Owens didn't shoot Graves and was not even there during the robbery, according to reporting by the Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network.

“Freddie Owens is not the person who shot Irene Graves at the Speedway on November 1, 1997,” Golden told the South Carolina Supreme Court. “Freddie was not present when I robbed the Speedway that day."

Even so Owens remains scheduled to die. As his execution fast approaches, USA TODAY is looking at who he is, what he was convicted of, and how he's fighting the ultimate punishment.

What happened to Irene Graves?

Owens and Golden were convicted in Graves' death, which came during a robbery of the convenience store where she worked in Greenville, South Carolina, according to court documents.

During the robbery, 41-year-old Irene Graves was shot in the head after she had told the men that she could not open the store safe. Graves was a single mother of three who worked three jobs to provide for her children.

Surveillance footage did not clearly show who fired the shot that killed Graves. Owens has always maintained he was at home in bed at the time of the robbery, and now Golden's statement backs that up.

In his statement, Golden said detectives at the time told him to say that Owens was with him during the robbery. Saying he was afraid of getting the death penalty, Golden said he went along with it.

In a statement to police, Golden said he "substituted Freddie for the person who was really with me in the Speedway that night."

"I did that because I knew that's what the police wanted me to say, and also because I thought the real shooter or his associates might kill me if I named him to the police," he said. "I am still afraid of that. But Freddie was actually not there."

Golden reached a plea agreement with prosecutors to testify against Owens and avoided the death penalty. His murder charge was reduced to voluntary manslaughter and he was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Owens' execution can move forward, saying Golden's new statement doesn't trump confessions they say he made to a girlfriend, his mother and two police officers. USA TODAY was working to speak with Owens' attorneys about the development.

As for Owens, he said his conviction led him to kill his cellmate while awaiting sentencing, telling officials: “I really did it because I was wrongly convicted of murder.”

Who is Freddie Eugene Owens?

Owens' childhood was filled with neglect, abuse, trauma and psychological difficulties.

Owens’ older sister, Marie Owens, said their father was an extremely violent person ? physically, verbally and emotionally ? to her, Owens, and their mother, according to court filings from 2016 seeking a reduced sentence for Owens.

“There was nothing he wouldn't do to hurt my mother,” Marie Owens said. “He hit us all the time with whatever was closest at hand. A stick, a bat, a beer can, a drop cord, a belt … whatever … until we bled.”

Marie Owens added that the children ended up being taken to a group home by state officials after she was beaten so hard with an extension cord that she bled profusely.

“They had been left alone at home in a house with no food and no electricity and removed for physical neglect" when Owens was 5 years old, according to a report written by Stacey Wood from the psychology department at Scripps College

Owens’ mother, Dora Diane Mason, recounted how Owens' father abused him as a child.

"I remember a time when Freddie was about 1 year old - he was very small - that his father got mad at him and whooped him and shook him so hard," Mason said. "After he stopped and I was able to get Freddie, I couldn't get Freddie to stop crying no matter how I tried."

Today, Owens has chosen to go by a different name ? Khalil-Divine Black Sun-Allah ? after converting to Islam in prison.

Freddie Owens in letters: 'Betrayers will be slayed'

In Owens' letters, obtained by USA TODAY, he lamented his life and the way the world brought him up.

"I wasn't born or raised this way and I can't blame society, but I say that living in this world for 19 years has to be the worst mistake I've made," Owens wrote. "I'd wish I knew before I came, that this world is corrupt and full of hate."

His writings also show a more sinister side, one that threatens those he says he loves. He writes to a woman named Aisha about his love for her but also threatens her after learning she was pregnant by another man.

"I said I was gonna kill the baby, you and that (expletive). You know the things I've done, you know what I'm capable of doing, so why do you tend to play these (expletive) games with me?" Owens wrote in 1998. "Don't let it be true or you try to abandon me, cause betrayers will be slayed, then I can come to jail for a reason. I don't need this but I can use a couple of bodies under my belt."

His tone flips on a dime in the same letter. He signs it by writing: "Love you always. Death will be the only thing to separate us."

A punishment too harsh

In addition to maintain Owens' innocence, his attorneys also cite his childhood as a major reason he doesn't deserve the death penalty. They also cite his age at the time of the crime ? 19 ? and say that he suffered organic brain damage, all rendering the death penalty a disproportionate punishment, they say.

In response to the defense's argument in a filing on Wednesday, the state said the attempts by Owens and his attorneys to stop his execution were baseless.

“A stay at this time would only result in unwarranted delay in carrying out the sentence that every sentencer has found appropriate for this petitioner – death,” the filing said.

The day after that filing was the deadline for Owens to choose his method of execution: electric chair, firing squad or lethal injection.

Saying his religious forbade him from choosing the way he'd die, his attorney, Emily Paavola, chose lethal injection.

Contributing: Terry Benjamin II

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Doubts about guilt swirl around South Carolina death row inmate