Just days before inmate Freddie Owens is set to die by lethal injection in South Carolina, the friend whose testimony helped send Owens to prison is saying he lied to save himself from the death chamber.

Owens is set to die at 6 p.m. Friday at a Columbia prison for the killing of a Greenville convenience store clerk in 1997.

But Owens’ lawyers on Wednesday filed a sworn statement from his co-defendant Steven Golden late Wednesday to try to stop South Carolina from carrying out its first execution in more than a decade.

Prosecutors reiterated that several other witnesses testified that Owens told them he pulled the trigger. And the state Supreme Court refused to stop Owens’ execution last week after Golden, in a sworn statement, said that he had a secret deal with prosecutors that he never told the jury about.

  • Zexks@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Yes. You absolutely can be. Ten-fifteens-twenty different angles of video evidence. 30+ eye witnesses. There’s a ones a point of insurmountable evidence to the point. It can be done.

    • tlou3please@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Sure, you’ve invented a fictional scenario that has never happened but appears quite certain. But even then there are external factors you can’t account for such as duress.

      • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        fictional scenario that has never happened

        Remember that guy a few years back that killed a someone on a bus and ate their face? Seen by literally dozens of passengers who watched in horror as well as the bus cam. He was arrested while still on the bus.

        It can happen and does. This is but one of many examples. There are times when it can be absolutely, 100%, without any shadow of a doubt, proved that some committed a heinous crime. To think oftherwise is sheer ignorance. You come off as a child.

        • tlou3please@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Even then, there is some hypothetical scenario that could at least mitigate guilt. For example, drink spiking with some kind of drug. I’m not saying that’s what happened or I think that happened, my point is 100% certainty is an impossible bar.

          • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Now who’s creating fictional scenarios? How convenient that it’s ok to do when it supports your argument.

            • tlou3please@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I’ve given an example of a potential extraneous factor. That’s not the same as a hypothetical case being used to dismiss fringe cases that we know for a fact happen.

        • tlou3please@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          The existance of cases where you can be 99.9% certain of guilt does not eliminate the existence of fringe cases. We know for a fact that people HAVE been executed despite being innocent. That’s a risk you must accept if you support capital punishment.

          • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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            2 months ago

            Yes, but if they somehow don’t I wouldn’t be opposed to finishing the job later if it’s determined they weren’t mentally compromised at the time.

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      You want certainty, but I think the many high-profile cases this year have shown that there is corruption in prosecutors and police and judges, and that often overlaps. How do you possibly think you could create a justice system that would prevent it from ever occurring?