CHICAGO — CHICAGO (AP) — Indiana will put to dying a person who was convicted within the 2001 rape and homicide of a teenage woman, the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment final 12 months.

The execution of Roy Lee Ward is scheduled earlier than dawn Friday on the state jail in Michigan Metropolis, Indiana. The 52-year-old has exhausted his authorized choices to problem the sentence.

Ward’s execution by deadly injection comes amid questions on Indiana’s dealing with of pentobarbital, the drug it has utilized in latest executions.

Right here’s a better have a look at the case:

Authorities say Ward entered the house of 15-year-old Stacy Payne on July 11, 2001, raped her and struck and stabbed the woman repeatedly with a dumbbell and a knife. She was airlifted from her city of Dale to a hospital and died hours later.

Matt Keller, former city marshal, found Stacy and arrested Ward who was nonetheless on the dwelling.

“I can’t think about the immense ache, struggling, and sheer terror that Stacy skilled over the past moments of her younger life,” Keller stated at Ward’s clemency listening to in Indianapolis final month.

Payne’s dying rocked the southern Indiana group, which is dwelling to about 1,500 individuals. Her father nonetheless lives on the home, her Raggedy Ann doll assortment untouched.

A close-by church has deliberate a prayer vigil to honor the woman hours earlier than the execution “with the sharing of cherished reminiscences.”

Ward’s case has wound by means of the courts for many years. He was discovered responsible of homicide and rape in 2002 and sentenced to dying. However the Indiana Supreme Court docket overturned the conviction and ordered a brand new trial.

Ward then pleaded responsible in 2007. The U.S. Supreme Court docket declined to listen to the case in 2017.

Two years later, he sued Indiana looking for to halt all executions. He argued that Indiana’s method of finishing up “capital punishment is bigoted” and “offensive to evolving requirements of decency.”

The Indiana Supreme Court docket declined to remain the execution final month. That’s additionally when Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency after board members famous the killing’s “brutal nature.”

Arguing in opposition to clemency, the state’s attorneys talked about Ward’s prison historical past, together with indecent publicity expenses and a theft conviction.

“He’s a assassin and a rapist,” Deputy Lawyer Normal Tyler Banks informed the parole board. “He’s additionally predatory and manipulative.”

Ward has exhausted his authorized avenues, attorneys stated.

“He’s fairly resigned to the truth that it’s taking place and has been for awhile,” stated Joanna Inexperienced, one in every of Ward’s attorneys. “He stated, ‘If I might take each little bit of the ache I precipitated with me, I’d.’”

Indiana resumed executions in 2024 after a 15-year hiatus. State officers stated they’d been capable of get hold of medicine utilized in deadly injections that had been unavailable for years.

However these medicine got here at a excessive price, greater than $1 million for 4 doses. In June, Braun stated the state would not instantly purchase extra, elevating questions on if Indiana would take into account a brand new execution methodology. The primary-term Republican cited the excessive price and brief shelf life.

Ward’s attorneys challenged using the drug in court docket, saying it may trigger flash pulmonary edema, wherein fluid rushes by means of rapidly disintegrating membranes into lungs and airways, inflicting ache just like being suffocated. They famous that witnesses to the Could execution of Ben Ritchie stated the person lurched ahead earlier than he died.

“There are nonetheless a number of unanswered questions on what occurred throughout Ben’s execution,” Inexperienced stated.

Amongst 27 states with dying penalty legal guidelines, Indiana is one in every of two that bar media witnesses.

Indiana Division of Correction officers confirmed Wednesday that the company “has sufficient pentobarbital to comply with the required protocol” for the execution however did not remark additional.

Inexperienced stated they found by means of their lawsuit that the pentobarbital for use in Ward’s execution is manufactured and never compounded. Ward’s attorneys stated meaning fewer considerations concerning the drug deteriorating rapidly they usually acquired assurances about correct dealing with of the drug, together with temperature management. The lawsuit was dropped, as was one other authorized problem over execution chamber circumstances.

Kinfolk stated Payne, who cherished the track “You Are My Sunshine,” was lively.

An honor scholar and cheerleader, she was saving cash from her pizzeria job, her mom Julie Wininger informed the parole board.

“Stacy’s life was so brief however was full of a lot that means,” she stated.

Wininger tallies every of the 8,000 plus days since Payne’s passing. She requested the parole board for justice to be carried out.

“We are going to by no means see Stacy smile once more,” Wininger stated, crying. “We are going to by no means hear her voice, by no means have the enjoyment of watching her develop into the unbelievable lady she was meant to be.”

Ward, who declined interview requests by means of his attorneys, has stated little publicly.

He didn’t remark when sentenced in 2007. He additionally declined a parole board interview, saying he did not wish to pressure the sufferer’s household journey to Michigan Metropolis. Attorneys additionally stated he’s remorseful however has a tough time expressing it.

Ward was not too long ago identified with autism spectrum dysfunction, a difficulty attorneys had raised in challenges.

In a Sept. 17 affidavit, Ward stated he declined a parole board look as a result of “attributable to my studying incapacity and language impairments the messages I imply to convey are generally tough for me to precisely categorical.”

Whereas behind bars, he misplaced family, together with his mom who moved to Michigan Metropolis to be nearer to him. By way of a jail program, he took care of a cat named Sadie, who was rehomed forward of his execution.

He’s renewed his religion and was baptized in jail. He retains shut contact with religious advisers who say he is expressed remorse.

“He’s not hiding the truth that it occurred,” stated Deacon Brian Nosbusch. “He’s positively a modified particular person.”