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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Supreme Court on Monday tentatively scheduled an Oct. 10 execution date for death row inmate Roy Lee Ward, but acknowledged they “lack the parties’ insight into … the next steps in the judicial and executive branch process that are specific to Ward if an execution date is set.”
In a five-page order, the high court justices said they were fulfilling an “administrative task” in setting the tentative date, but quoted a request from Ward to delay the case due to “serious questions and concerns about whether the State of Indiana can carry out his execution in a constitutionally permissible manner.”
In recent cases, they have not used the term tentative in setting a date.
“We are mindful … that after we perform our administrative task of setting an execution date, other state and federal officials must work backwards from that date to fulfill their own important duties related to an ordered execution,” wrote Chief Justice Loretta Rush.
Ward’s execution, if approved, would be the third 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.
But Braun said recently that Indiana does not currently have usable lethal injection drugs and that he does not plan to buy more until lawmakers debate the issue during the 2026 legislative session.
In June, the governor further disclosed that state officials spent $1.175 million on lethal injection doses over the past year — $600,000 of which was spent on drugs that expired before use.
The Indiana Attorney General’s Office filed a motion on June 27 to set an execution date for Ward, who was sentenced to death in 2007 for the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in Spencer County. The state argues Ward has exhausted all appeals and no legal stays remain in place.
Ward’s attorneys pushed back, however, asking the court for additional time to respond, citing pending public records requests to the Department of Correction for information about the drugs Indiana plans to use in future executions. The defense also pointed to witness accounts from Benjamin Ritchie’s execution in May, where observers said Ritchie “violently” lifted his head and shoulders off the gurney during the procedure.
“The witness accounts are consistent with accounts from other executions where, like Indiana, a single drug — pentobarbital — has been used to carry out the execution and are indicative of potential problems with the execution,” Deputy Public Defender Laura Volk wrote in the July 2 filing. “Given these accounts, Ward has serious questions and concerns about whether the State of Indiana can carry out his execution in a constitutionally permissible manner.”
The state objected to the delay, arguing that the only issue before the court is whether an execution date must be set as required under state law: “Whatever information [Ward] gleans from any response to those [public records] requests is only relevant to potential future litigation and entirely irrelevant to the substance of the State’s request,” the state wrote in its response.
The court sided with the state in part, saying that although concerns about drug protocols are valid, they must be addressed in a separate legal proceeding. Still, Rush noted that the setting of an execution date often prompts a wave of related litigation, clemency requests and logistical planning.
Per the court’s order. Ward’s legal team has until July 30 to file its response to the state’s motion. The state has until Aug. 11 for a subsequent reply. Rush said in Monday’s order that a final execution date remains pending until the court issues a definitive ruling.
Ward’s case has spanned over two decades. His initial conviction and death sentence were overturned due to concerns about pretrial publicity, but a second jury sentenced him to death again in 2007 after he pleaded guilty. His appeals concluded in 2017.
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, an honor roll student, later died from severe injuries.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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