Man convicted of killing a 15-year-old girl in her home in 2001 is executed by injection in Indiana

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CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was executed by injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

Roy Lee Ward, 53, was put to death at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Indiana Department of Correction said in a statement that the process started shortly after midnight and Ward was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m.

Ward’s last meal was from Texas Corral and included a hamburger. His last words reported by Indiana Department of Correction were “Brian is going to read them,” but it was unclear when exactly he made the statement.

He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne. Authorities said Ward attacked the girl with a knife and dumbbell in her family’s home near Dale, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Evansville. The crime rocked the small community of roughly 1,500 people.

Ward had exhausted his legal options after more than two decades. His attorney, Joanna Green, said days before the execution that Ward was “very remorseful” about the crime.”

Ward’s execution came amid questions about Indiana’s handling of the powerful sedative pentobarbital. Last year state officials ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections that had been unavailable for years.

The Indiana Department of Correction said it had obtained “enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for Ward’s execution. Ward’s attorneys had raised concerns about the use of the drug and how the state stored it, including temperature issues.

Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses to executions. Ward’s witness list included attorneys and spiritual advisers.

His case trailed through the courts for more than 20 years.

Ward was convicted of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to death. But after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, he pleaded guilty in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana seeking to stop all pending executions.

Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.

The victim’s family members said they were ready for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor student and cheerleader with an influence beyond her short life.

“Now our family gatherings are no longer whole, holidays still empty. Birthdays are sad reminders of what we lost,” her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board last month. “Our family has endured emotional devastation.”

Ward skipped the parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family to travel to the prison and that he couldn’t always say what he meant. Attorneys say Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affected his ability to communicate.

One of his spiritual advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, said ahead of the execution that Ward thought deeply about his actions.

“He knows he did it,” Nosbusch said. “He knows it was horrendous.”

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Golden reported from Seattle.