Convicted murderer attempts to avoid death penalty
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Attorneys for death row inmate Roy Lee Ward will attempt to make the case that he should not be executed.
Ward is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 10 for the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in Spencer County.
Ward is twice convicted of the crime and twice sentenced to death.
He’s one of six men still on death row, after Indiana ended its 15-year hiatus on capital punishment with the execution of Joseph Corcoran in Dec. 2024 and Benjamin Ritchie in May 2025.
The Indiana Parole Board will conduct a clemency hearing on Monday, Sept. 22, at the Indiana Government Center South Auditorium in Indianapolis. Testimony in support of clemency is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., followed by testimony in opposition from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
An initial clemency hearing planned for Friday, Sept. 19, at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City was canceled when Ward said he did not want to be personally interviewed.
Gov. Mike Braun followed the parole board’s recommendation to not grant clemency to Ritchie in May, but their guidance is non-binding.
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