South Carolina death row inmate Freddie Owens will die by lethal injection later this month, after being given one week to choose an execution method.
Owens, 46, allowed his attorney, Emily Paavola, to make the decision, who in court documents stated according to her client's Muslim faith, suicide is a sin, the Associated Press reported.
Owens has been sitting on death row since 1999, after he was convicted in the murder of 41-year-old store clerk Irene Graves during an armed robbery in Greenville County, South Carolina. Soon after, he also confessed to killing his cellmate.
South Carolina has three options for inmates condemned to death: lethal injection, the electric chair, or firing squad.
Earlier this week, Owens' defense requested more information about the drug pentobarbital, before announcing a decision Friday.
"I have known Mr. Owens for 15 years. Under the circumstances, and in light of the information currently available to me, I made the best decision I felt I could make on his behalf. I sincerely hope that the South Carolina Department of Corrections' assurances will hold true," Paavola wrote in a statement, according to the outlet.
Had Paavola not decided, the state would've defaulted to electrocution.
Owens is scheduled to die Sept. 20, in what will be the state's first execution in 13 years, according to The Post and Courier.
