Indiana officials have executed a man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl. Roy Lee Ward was put to death early Friday by injection at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The 53-year-old was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne and sentenced to death. She was killed in the family’s home in the small southern Indiana community of Dale. Attorneys said Ward had exhausted his legal options after more than two decades of court battles.
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 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 southern Indiana home. The crime rocked Dale, a community of roughly 1,500 people.
Ward’s last meal included a hamburger and fries from Texas Corral, according to IDOC. One of his spiritual advisors, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, was allowed in the chamber. Nosbusch said he held Ward's right hand as the drug was administered.
“He closed his eyes. His hand that I was holding turned blue and he was gone," Nosbusch said. "There was no movement at all from the body. He blinked at me just before.”
Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses to executions. Ward’s witness list included attorneys, who were seated in an adjoining room with a partial view through a one-way window and no sound.
Attorneys said Ward had prepared a statement he wanted Nosbusch to read. But Nosbusch said he didn't get the chance. In their execution notification IDOC officials reported Ward’s last words as, “Brian is going to read them.” They did not explain at the time.
Hours later, attorneys shared a copy of what Ward intended as his final words. State officials belatedly posted it online saying they “came into possession” of it after the execution.
“I wish I could go back and change things, but I can’t. I hate myself for what I did,” Ward said in the statement. “If I could take with me every bit of pain I have caused Stacy and her family, I would. There is no excuse. I also hurt my family, I wish I could take that away. I have asked God for forgiveness, even though I feel I do not deserve it and cannot forgive myself. I hope my execution gives Stacy’s family some peace.”
Attorney Larry Komp, among Ward's witnesses, said he was “processing” what he saw. He declined further comment.
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.”
Afterward she said other attorneys who witnessed couldn't see Ward's face.
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 state's 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.
His case trailed through the courts for decades.
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 an appearance before the board 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.
Laura Volk, one of Ward's attorneys, said she saw him change from a “sad broken man” to someone kind and generous.
“I have witnessed him help others in the small ways he can,” she said ahead of the execution. “In the 25 years I have been doing this work, I can say Roy is a different person than when he went in."
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Golden reported from Seattle.