Greenville, South Carolina - A man convicted of a 1997 murder was killed by lethal injection Friday in South Carolina, the state's first execution in 13 years, despite the bombshell retraction of a crucial witness in his case.

Freddie Owens was reportedly pronounced dead at 6:55 PM local time after he was administered a lethal injection. He was 46

Owens was convicted in 1999 of the murder of a convenience store clerk Irene Graves, a 41-year-old mother-of-three, during a robbery in Greenville, South Carolina on Halloween night in 1997.

Surveillance footage played at his trial showed two men wearing masks enter the store around 4:00 AM, according to court documents.

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They stole $37 from a cash register and led Graves to the back of the store, where she was shot in the head after she was unable to open a safe.

At the trial, codefendant Steven Golden testified that Owens was the gunman wearing a ski mask who shot Graves.

Just hours before the execution, Golden shockingly recanted his testimony, saying he had lied and that Owens was never even at the scene of the robbery. Prosecutors and the state's Supreme Court refused to take the shocking revelation into account, while Governor Henry McMaster did not intervene.

At his execution, Owens made no final statement, but he was observed saying "bye" to his lawyer after the fatal dose was administered, according to Fox Carolina, whose reporter witnessed the execution.

Prior to Owens, the last death row inmate executed in South Carolina was 36-year-old Jeffrey Motts on May 6, 2011.

Owens's execution is the first of five set to take place across the US over the course of the next week.