Steven Golden, the man prosecutors said robbed the convenience store with Owens, says he was not the person who killed Irene Graves on Halloween 1997

Last minutes appeals, recanted testimony, allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, questions over the lethal injection fail to stop South Carolina’s first execution in more than a decade.

Officials in South Carolina have executed Freddie Owens, convicted in the 1997 murder of a convenience store clerk, marking the state's first execution in more than a decade.