At times, Freddie Eugene Owens' letters are incredibly vulnerable as he says he's "also human." At others they threaten violence and say "betrayers will be slayed"

A death row inmate in Missouri who has long claimed his innocence and is scheduled to be executed in less than one week asked the US Supreme Court on Wednesday for a stay of execution, arguing his due process rights were denied during the yearslong legal battle to save his life.

In South Carolina, which on Friday will execute its first inmate since 2011, 43 convicted murderers have been executed by the state since the death penalty was reinstated here in 1976. Few death row inmates have been acquitted in that time, but a substantial number have still managed to get off death row.