The Indiana Supreme Court has rejected an attempt to spare the life of a man convicted of raping and killing a Spencer County teen 24 years ago. WNIN’s has the update:
The state’s high court denied a motion to stop the scheduled October 10th execution of Roy Lee Ward.
He was convicted of raping and stabbing 15-year-old Stacey Payne after talking his way into her home in Dale in 2001.
The honor roll student who attended Heritage Hills High School later died at a hospital.
The brutal crime shocked the community and resulted in a jury convicting Ward and a judge sentencing him to death in 2002.
The verdict and sentence were later overturned on appeal, but another jury convicted him in 2007 and Ward faced capital punishment again.
Since then, his attorneys have filed numerous appeals to save Ward’s life.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush wrote in Wednesday’s denial of post-conviction relief that the 53-year-old Ward be put to death before sunrise October 10th.
It’s not clear if Ward’s case will go before the U.S. Supreme Court.