Death row inmate Roy Lee Ward will be executed Friday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City after exhausting all legal options to stop his execution.

Gov. Mike Braun issued a brief statement Sept. 29 that he will follow the recommendation of the Indiana State Parole Board to move forward with the execution.

“After carefully reviewing the unanimous recommendation from the Indiana Parole Board, I have decided to allow the execution of Roy Lee Ward to proceed as planned for October 10,” Braun said in the statement.

The Indiana Parole Board recommended unanimously that Braun deny Ward’s request for commutation of his death sentence, Indiana Parole Board Chair Gwendolyn Horth wrote in a letter to Braun Sept. 24.

In July 2001, Ward went to 15-year-old Stacy Payne’s house in Dale and c

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