CHICAGO — An Indiana man convicted within the 2001 rape and homicide of a teenage lady was executed by injection early Friday within the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment final yr.
Roy Lee Ward, 53, was put to dying on the Indiana State Jail in Michigan Metropolis. Indiana Division of Correction mentioned in a press release that the method began shortly after midnight and Ward was pronounced lifeless at 12:33 a.m.
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Ward’s final meal was from Texas Corral and included a hamburger. His final phrases reported by Indiana Division of Correction have been “Brian goes to learn them,” nevertheless it was unclear when precisely he made the assertion.
He was convicted within the rape and homicide of 15-year-old Stacy Payne. Authorities mentioned Ward attacked the lady with a knife and dumbbell in her household’s residence close to Dale, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Evansville. The crime rocked the small neighborhood of roughly 1,500 folks.
Ward had exhausted his authorized choices after greater than twenty years. His legal professional, Joanna Inexperienced, mentioned days earlier than the execution that Ward was “very remorseful” concerning the crime.”
Ward’s execution got here amid questions on Indiana’s dealing with of the highly effective sedative pentobarbital. Final yr state officers ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been capable of get hold of medication utilized in deadly injections that had been unavailable for years.
The Indiana Division of Correction mentioned it had obtained “sufficient pentobarbital to comply with the required protocol” for Ward’s execution. Ward’s attorneys had raised considerations about the usage of the drug and the way the state saved it, together with temperature points.
Amongst 27 states with dying penalty legal guidelines, Indiana is one among two that bar media witnesses to executions. Ward’s witness listing included attorneys and religious advisers.
His case trailed via the courts for greater than 20 years.
Ward was convicted of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to dying. However after the Indiana Supreme Court docket overturned the conviction and ordered a brand new trial, he pleaded responsible in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court docket declined to listen to the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana looking for to cease all pending executions.
Final month, the Indiana Supreme Court docket declined to remain the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.
The sufferer’s members of the family mentioned they have been prepared for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor pupil and cheerleader with an affect past her quick life.
“Now our household gatherings are not entire, holidays nonetheless empty. Birthdays are unhappy reminders of what we misplaced,” her mom Julie Wininger instructed the parole board final month. “Our household has endured emotional devastation.”
Ward skipped the parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he did not need to drive the sufferer’s household to journey to the jail and that he could not all the time say what he meant. Attorneys say Ward was not too long ago recognized with autism spectrum dysfunction, which affected his potential to speak.
One in all his religious advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, mentioned forward of the execution that Ward thought deeply about his actions.
“He is aware of he did it,” Nosbusch mentioned. “He is aware of it was horrendous.”
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Golden reported from Seattle.
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