Editor's Note: This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity and length.
MAAYAN SCHECHTER, HOST/REPORTER:
It's been more than 13 years since South Carolina last performed an execution.
That's likely to change next month.
Last week, South Carolina's corrections department (by law) set a Sept. 20 date of execution for Freddie Eugene Owens, convicted of killing a Greenville store clerk in 1997. (After Owens was convicted of murder in 1999, Owens killed his cellmate at the Greenville County jail.)
Jeffrey Collins with the Associated Press in South Carolina has covered (and witnessed) seven state executions in his reporting career, and he's been following Owens' case throughout the appeals process. I spoke to Jeffrey via Zoom.
Jeffrey, you wrote recently that no South Carolina governor has ever granted clemency in the modern era for someone on death row, and Gov. (Henry) McMaster has been quite clear on his position on the death penalty for a long time. From here, where does Owens' case go over the next three to four weeks?
COLLINS: There's a lot of small, well, I say small, but smaller legal issues to resolve. Stuff that doesn't include his entire case because he's out of his traditional appeals. The state Supreme Court's going to have to decide some things, like whether or not Freddie Owens' attorney can choose how he is executed (by) lethal injection, firing squad (or) electric chair, as opposed to Owens himself choosing because Owens gave his attorney power of attorney to make that decision.
But the prison system's like, we got to do this legally, so is that OK? There's also going to be an issue about whether or not the information the prison department releases about the quality of the lethal injection drugs is enough to satisfy the legal requirements, both in the secrecy law about it and for the inmates' rights.
As far as clemency goes, interestingly enough, yes, you are right. The governor has been very, has been unwavering in his support of the death penalty. He says he'll consider anything that comes before him because he's legally required to. But interestingly enough, he also takes the stance of a very old-school kind of clemency decision. Like he doesn't have to make that decision until minutes before the execution starts and the prison folks call him up and say, 'Hey, are you granting clemency?' And they'll make that decision, like I said, literally minutes before this thing starts.
SCHECHTER: You mentioned firing squad, and that's the state's newest execution method. Recently, the South Carolina Supreme Court said that firing squad, in addition to the electric chair, were not considered cruel punishments. What else did the court say?
COLLINS: Well, the court also allowed the lethal injection to go forward under the shield law. That was a big thing is they approved, they said the shield law was constitutional in South Carolina, which allows a lot of secrecy around executions. No release of the names of people involved. They don't have to release information about where they obtained the lethal injection drug. Like I said, there'll be very, there may be very minimal information about the potency of the drug. Very little information is released about what happens to the inmate during an execution. So that was a big part also of the Supreme Court's decision.
SCHECHTER: You've covered seven executions in your career: six by lethal injection, one by electrocution. And that's given you a pretty unique perspective than most in the state press corps have. So what can the public expect if the Sept. 20th date is held?
COLLINS: Publicly, very little. I mean, part of the execution process in South Carolina has only gotten more secretive under the shield law (and) very little happens in public view. There will be three witnesses from the media who get to see the execution. Members of the families of the victim get to see it. Either a clergy or an attorney or a family member of the inmate gets to watch it. And of course, any personnel, a law enforcement officer involved in the investigation gets to. But outside of that, that's it outside of the execution staff. And there are no cameras allowed, there are no audio recordings, there are no photographs. It's all done like (that) across the country in secret. The only public notification will be when prison officials come out. The executions are scheduled for 6 p.m. So maybe about 20 (minutes later), (they) say the execution has been legally carried out and the inmate is dead.
So publicly you won't see very much on that secrecy note.
SCHECHTER: Why do you feel like it's so important to have reporters like yourself inside the room when it's happening?
COLLINS: Because there's no recording, because there's no one else in that room outside of people who have an interest to a certain extent in it. Either they were involved, either their lives were shattered by whatever crime happened, or they've been defending this person, or they're related to the inmate. We're the only real neutral observers in that room. We're really the only people that are looking at that from the perspective of what happens.
And exactly, you know, the details of what it looks like and what happens to the inmate. And what does the inmate do? You know, do they look toward family members? Are they repentant? Are they, you know, aren't repentant? I mean, so we're the only neutral observers in that room. And I see it as very important because I'm the conduit to the public who then gets to use that information and determine what they wish about executions, the process and this particular execution I'm witnessing.
SCHECHTER: On a more personal level, what is the experience like to cover someone who is about to die, who is about to or is taking their final breath?
COLLINS: It's somber. I mean, there's really no other word. I don't think that's better than that. I mean, there's very few circumstances that the state is sanctioned to take someone's life. You know, war might be one. We could talk about police shootings. That's one place where it could happen. But, like I said, it's a very somber thing. But you go and you have a job to do in my case to say what happened. And so the public can understand it, ... because I'm a reporter and because there is a fairness aspect to it and I need to make sure I tell exactly what happened without emotion or, you know, decision one way or the other, whether this is legitimate or should be done or not, then, you know, I have to go into it with just a very fact oriented kind of thought. So I relate what happened. I relate how it happened. And since I'm one of the few people that are neutral and get to do that, I take that responsibility very seriously.
SCHECHTER: Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press. Thank you for talking with me.
COLLINS: Thank you for having me, Maayan.
