The U.S. state of South Carolina carried out the first execution in 13 years

In the U.S. state of South Carolina for the first time in 13 years carried out an execution by lethal injection. This was reported by CNN on Friday, September 20.

Inmate Freddie Owens was sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder of a store employee during a robbery, which he committed when he was 19 years old. Owens' attorneys tried to get a reprieve by filing a request with the U.S. Supreme Court hours before the execution, but it was denied.

On September 19, the state Supreme Court refused to stay the execution, and Governor Henry McMaster did not pardon the prisoner.

Earlier, the media noted that Owens could have chosen one of three types of execution - lethal injection, the electric chair or the recently added firing squad.

In June, a court in Texas dropped charges against the American, who spent about 20 years on death row and trying to prove non-involvement in a murder committed back in 1977. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found him not guilty on the basis of misinterpretation of evidence and perjury on which prosecutors had based their argument.