Death Row Inmate Loses Appeal Over Brain Abnormality Evidence

A South Carolina man’s capital sentence for murder during an armed robbery won’t be overturned, despite his argument that his lawyers failed to present mitigating evidence of his family background or brain abnormalities, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled.

The attorneys representing Freddie Owens during his third capital sentencing trial reasonably investigated Owens’s troubled upbringing by retaining social workers and medical experts, by interviewing his family members, and drawing from the record in his prior trials, the court ruled Wednesday.

The court also denied Owens’s request for a hearing on whether his sentencing counsel was ineffective ...