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His last meal: cheeseburgers, French fries, a ribeye steak and chicken wings, strawberry soda, and a piece of apple pie. No last message. Just, “Bye.” And on September 20, 2024, as protesters rallied outside, 46-year-old Freddie Owens became South Carolina’s first death row execution in thirteen years.
Just hours before, Owens’ friend and co-defendant admitted police pressured him into a fake testimony. He said Owens wasn’t even there for the 1997 killing. But Owens’ defense could only delay his execution an hour. “Just get it over with,” said the murder victim’s son.
But Owens’ execution wasn’t justice - it was a legalized lynching. Lynching wasn’t about using evidence to punish individual Black people who caused harm, let alone justice or restoration. Lynching was designed to send a public message: any Black person can fit in the noose. We should fear white supremacist power. We’re all guilty of existing.
With legal execution, the state is the lynch mob. Freddie Owens has joined the names of Troy Davis, Nathaniel Woods, Frances Newton, and countless others. And while evidence of innocence has exonerated some, this violence is less about individual guilt and more about collective punishment and terror.
Understanding this helps us see that the “justice system” didn’t fail Owens. Continuing centuries of anti-Black violence, it operated the way it was always intended to.