Entries tagged with “Freddie Owens”

Upcoming Executions

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Jan 14, 2025

New Analysis: Marion Bowman’s Scheduled Execution in South Carolina Raises Concerns About Youth Culpability, Fits Pattern of Disproportionate Executions of Young Black Men

When Marion Bowman was arrest­ed at age 20 for the mur­der of Kandee Martin, soci­ety did not con­sid­er him mature enough to drink alco­hol, rent a car, or enter a casi­no. Yet he was deemed old enough to be sen­tenced to death. Now 44, he has spent over half his life on South Carolina’s death row and is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on January 31. ​“Retribution is not pro­por­tion­al if the law’s most severe penal­ty is imposed on one whose cul­pa­bil­i­ty or blame­wor­thi­ness is dimin­ished, to a substantial degree…

Executions

Methods of Execution

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Feb 06, 2024

South Carolina Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of Electrocution and Firing Squad, Considers Scope of Secrecy Law

On February 6, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral argu­ments in Owens v. Stirling, a case in which death-sen­­tenced pris­on­ers chal­lenged the state’s elec­tro­cu­tion and fir­ing squad exe­cu­tion meth­ods as uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. A South Carolina tri­al court had pre­vi­ous­ly held an exten­sive evi­den­tiary hear­ing and issued an injunc­tion against use of those meth­ods based on the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against​“cru­el,”​“unusu­al,” or…

Executions

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Methods of Execution

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Sep 09, 2022

South Carolina Trial Court Rules in Favor of Death-Row Prisoners Challenging Execution Methods

A South Carolina tri­al court has issued an injunc­tion pre­vent­ing the state from car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions using a fir­ing squad or the elec­tric chair, rul­ing that those meth­ods vio­late the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against​“cru­el, unusu­al, and…

Executions

Executions Overview

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Methods of Execution

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Aug 18, 2022

South Carolina Court Set to Rule on Prisoners’ Challenge to Electric Chair and Firing Squad Executions After Completion of Methods of Execution Trial

A deci­sion on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of South Carolina​’s new­ly adopt­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods now rests in the hands a tri­al court judge after lawyers for death-row pris­on­ers and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) pre­sent­ed four days of con­flict­ing expert tes­ti­mo­ny about the amount of pain suf­fered dur­ing fir­ing squad and electric…

Executions

Methods of Execution

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Jun 17, 2021

South Carolina Supreme Court Halts Executions of Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens

The South Carolina Supreme Court has vacat­ed death war­rants for two death-row pris­on­ers sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed this month, stay­ing their exe­cu­tions until the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) com­plies with a new­ly enact­ed state law requir­ing that it offer con­demned pris­on­ers the option of being executed…