Shawn Paul Humphries was born on October 19, 1971. His early childhood was marked by severe abuse: his father was physically violent and introduced him to alcohol, drugs, and inhalants by the age of six. His aunt revealed that his father once said he wished his children had been aborted, and that Humphries himself was conceived as a result of his mother being raped by this same man.

Between ages three and twelve, he lived with his grandparents, who were heavy drinkers and reportedly grew marijuana in their backyard. He returned to his mother only after she remarried. By adolescence, he had accumulated a criminal record: in 1984, aged 12–13, he was arrested for breaking and entering. He was suspended from school multiple times for fighting, spent 30 days in a state facility, broke into a church in 1989 to find food, and served a prison term in Alabama for stealing a car—including two years in prison followed by four years on probation.

On January 1, 1994, Humphries and friend Eddie Blackwell were intoxicated and decided to rob the Max‑Saver convenience store in Fountain Inn, South Carolina. At around 7 a.m., after flashing a stolen gun at clerk Dickie Smith, the victim reached beneath the counter. Humphries panicked and shot Smith once in the head, killing him instantly. They fled separately; Blackwell was arrested at the scene and Humphries shortly thereafter.

Humphries was indicted and convicted on August 5, 1994, on charges of murder, attempted armed robbery, firearm possession during a violent crime, and conspiracy. A jury sentenced him to death for the murder, with concurrent terms of 20 years for robbery and 5 years for conspiracy.

On appeal, the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed his conviction. His attorneys in federal appeals argued that the prosecutor’s final argument, comparing the worth of the victim’s life to Humphries’s, was prejudicial. Though this argument was considered inappropriate, those appeals were ultimately dismissed.

On December 2, 2005, Humphries was executed at South Carolina’s Broad River Correctional Institution.