MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. ( Indiana Capital Chronicle ) - Death row inmate Roy Lee Ward was executed by lethal injection early Friday morning at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, marking the state’s second execution of 2025 and the third since resuming the death penalty after more than a decade-long hiatus.

Indiana Department of Correction officials said in a statement that “the execution process started shortly after” 12 a.m. Central Time and Ward, 53, was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m. CT.

He was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in Spencer County.

It remains unclear, however, when exactly the execution drug was administered, the amount of pentobarbital used, or who witnessed the execution.

“Early this morning, the execution

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