According to legal documents, Owens’ attorneys informed state prison officials of Owens’ decision after his arrest warrant was issued.

Corrections Warden Bryan Stirling asked the Supreme Court on Monday to rule on whether an inmate can give that power of attorney to his attorney – essentially, whether the attorney’s decision would be valid since state law does not address this specific case.

The judges ordered lawyers for Owens and the state to submit their answers to Stirling’s question by Friday.

By law, the deadline for a decision is two weeks after an execution order is issued. In Owens’ case, that would be September 6.

Question about timing

Owens is also one of five inmates asking the court to wait at least 13 weeks between executions.

The five men who signed the petition, including Owens, are those who have exhausted their normal appeals processes and are not waiting for further decisions from the courts. Owens’ execution has been scheduled twice and stayed in 2021 due to legal disputes over the lack of available options.

State law does not set any rules for the frequency of executions, other than the period between the court issuing the death warrant and the execution date, which must be four Fridays later.

The Supreme Court’s ruling last month allowing executions that have been on hold since 2021 to continue creates the possibility of executions being carried out on five consecutive Fridays. This presents several problems, the inmates’ lawyers argued in their motion.

“First: Planning of executions The temporal proximity of the two increases the risk of a serious error during execution, which is likely to lead to in cruel or unusual punishment,” the lawyers wrote.

The “reduced period of time” will place a “severe burden” on the mental and physical health of the staff who have to carry out the executions, the lawyers wrote.

This would not give the executioners time to learn from mistakes and adapt the protocols – and the lawyers to enforce them through lawsuits. In addition, if problems arise with a particular method, the prisoners should have the opportunity to choose a different method. This is not possible if the 14-day period has already expired, the prisoners’ lawyers continued.

SC will execute a death row inmate next month, the first execution in the state in 13 years

The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the motion because it is an ongoing legal process.

When asked Tuesday about the 13-week interval requirement, Governor Henry McMaster told reporters the decision would have to be made by the state legislature.

If lawmakers want to put a frequency delay into state law, they should do so. In the meantime, judges should not create such a rule themselves, he said.

“I think the current law is a good law,” McMaster said. “It was carefully crafted, and there are years of experience around the country with this kind of thing, and if our legislature made that decision (to leave the law as it is), then I think that’s a good decision. It’s a common sense decision.”

“If they want to change it, that’s their business,” he added.

Mildness

McMaster, who served as attorney general for eight years, declined to comment Tuesday on whether he would pardon Owens, citing his repeated support for the death penalty as a form of justice for victims’ families, particularly when an inmate has exhausted all legal remedies.

“After years of involvement, I believe there are things that are not celebrated or that are inconvenient for some, but are necessary for some in our constitutional state,” McMaster said. “Our legislature and people across the country and elsewhere have decided that the death penalty is necessary.”

By law, the governor receives a call from the Justice Department minutes before the execution. McMaster is then asked if he wants to grant clemency. He told reporters he won’t give an answer until he gets that call. But he hinted with certainty that the answer will be “no.”

“I think if the rule of law is upheld, there is really only one answer, but that statement has to be made at the time the law requires it,” McMaster said.

Owens was convicted in 1999 of killing gas station clerk Irene Graves two years earlier as part of a crime spree. The night after his conviction, he killed another inmate at the Greenville Detention Center and confessed to the crime in court the next day.

The Supreme Court has twice sent Owens’ case back to the trial courts because of problems with his case. Both times, the jury recommended the death penalty. In 2008, the court agreed with that recommendation.