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A man convicted of the 2001 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl has been executed by lethal injection in the US state of Indiana, authorities confirmed on Friday.
Roy Lee Ward, aged 53, was sentenced to death in 2002 for the brutal killing of Stacy Payne at her home in the small town of Dale.
Payne was stabbed multiple times and succumbed to her injuries several hours later. Ward was arrested at the scene while still holding the weapon used in the attack.
The Indiana Department of Correction said the execution took place shortly after midnight (0500 GMT) at the state prison in Michigan City. Ward’s final meal consisted of a hamburger, a steak melt, fries, shrimp, and breadsticks.
He became the third inmate to be executed in Indiana since the state reinstated capital punishment last year, following a 15-year pause caused by difficulties in obtaining the drugs used for lethal injections.
So far this year, the United States has carried out 35 executions — matching the total recorded in 2014. Florida has conducted the most, with 13, followed by Texas with five, and both South Carolina and Alabama with four each.
Of these, 28 were conducted by lethal injection, two by firing squad, and four using nitrogen hypoxia — a method that induces suffocation by replacing oxygen with nitrogen gas. The latter has been condemned by United Nations experts as a cruel form of execution.
The death penalty remains legal in 24 of America’s 50 states. Twenty-three states have abolished it, while California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have moratoriums preventing executions.
President Donald Trump has long been a vocal supporter of capital punishment. On his first day back in office, he called for its expanded use, saying it should apply to what he described as “the vilest crimes.”
