South Carolina Supreme Court refuses to stop upcoming execution of Freddie Owens, the state's first in 13 years

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stop the execution of Freddie Owens who is set to die by lethal injection next week in the state's first execution in 13 years.

The justices unanimously tossed out two requests from defense lawyers who said a court needed to hear new information about what they called a secret deal that kept a co-defendant off death row or from serving life in prison and about a juror who correctly surmised Owens was wearing a stun belt at his 1999 trial.

That evidence, plus an argument that Owens' death sentence was too harsh because a jury never conclusively determined he pulled the trigger on the shot that killed a convenience store clerk, didn't reach the "exceptional circumstances" needed to allow Owens another appeal, the justices wrote in their order.