Indiana seeks execution date for death row inmate Roy Lee Ward

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office requested an execution date on Friday for death row inmate Roy Lee Ward, the Spencer County man convicted in 2007 for the rape and murder of 15‑year‑old Stacy Payne.

A date has not yet been set. A decision on the state’s motion is up to the Indiana Supreme Court.

“We are stunned that they have moved for a date given the very public statements of the governor that the cost is something that should be explored and that this is something the governor wanted the legislature to look at,” defense counsel Larry Komp said in a statement to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

“Given the budget shortfalls, citizens deserve an explanation as to why Indiana spent over a million dollars for controlled substances, from some undisclosed source that is reaping a huge financial windfall at the expense of Indiana citizens,” he continued. “This is especially true given the public descriptions that the drugs did not work how they should have in Mr. Ritchie’s execution.”

Ward, now 52, was originally convicted and sentenced to death in 2002, but the state’s high court justices overturned the verdict due to “prejudicial pre-trial publicity,” according to legal documents.

The case was sent back to the lower court, where Ward later pleaded guilty and a 2nd jury again sentenced him to death in 2007.

The Indiana Supreme Court previously set Ward’s execution for December 11, 2012, but that date was automatically stayed due to ongoing federal appeals. No new execution date was set while those legal challenges remained unresolved in the courts.

Ward has since exhausted all state and federal appeals.

Court records indicate Ward attacked Payne after she answered the door of her Dale, Indiana, home shortly after noon on July 11, 2001. Her younger sister heard screams and called 911. Police arrived within minutes and found Ward standing in the doorway of the home, holding a knife. He was arrested at the scene.

Payne later died from severe injuries, including stab wounds and disembowelment.

Payne was an honor roll student who worked at Jenk’s Pizza, according to her obituary. She was a cheerleader and won awards for public speaking.

Ward’s execution, if approved, would be the 3rd in Indiana since December 2024, following a 15‑year hiatus. Joseph Corcoran was executed by lethal injection in December under former Gov. Eric Holcomb, and Benjamin Ritchie followed in May 2025 under new Gov. Mike Braun. Both executions used a single‐drug protocol of pentobarbital.

Since executions resumed, debates have increased over the high cost and uncertain supply of the drug.

Reporting by the Capital Chronicle revealed this week the state spending has so far exceeded $1 million for four doses of pentobarbital: half were used and the other half expired.

The drugs were purchased in 2 transactions — 2 under Holcomb and 2 under Braun.

In total, $1.175 million was spent, Braun said. But 2 doses — worth $600,000 — expired without use because “they had been on the shelf too long.” Braun said earlier this month that the drug has a 90-day shelf life.

Braun emphasized earlier this week that neither of the doses used by the Indiana Department of Correction in December and May were expired when administered to inmates.

It’s not clear when exactly the state acquired the doses or from where they were purchased. Indiana Code protects the identity of the seller from public scrutiny. State officials had previously declined to provide details about how much pentobarbital was purchased, and refused to provide information on expiration dates, storage or other details.

“Gov. Braun is aware of the filing,” the governor’s office said in a statement to the Capital Chronicle. “Once the date is set by the court, the governor will order the Department of Correction to begin the necessary preparations and have his legal team begin reviewing the case details as the case moves through the final appeals process.”

Braun, a Republican in his 1st year as governor, has repeatedly said the question of whether Indiana should continue to carry out executions is one that lawmakers should weigh in the months ahead.

“There are legislators that wonder if it’s still relevant,” he said earlier this month. “I’m going to listen to them, the courts, and the broader discussion in general.”

Source: Indiana Capital Chronicle, Staff, July 1, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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