MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- At 12:01 a.m. CDT, the time proscribed by court order to begin the execution of Roy Lee Ward, a small crowd gathered in the parking lot across the street from the Indiana State Prison to stand witness as a neighbor blared Johnny Cash’s “25 Minutes to Go” from stereo speakers set up across the way.

Ward had been a resident of the state’s Death Row in Michigan City since 2002 after his conviction for the killing of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in Dale, Indiana, the year before. He was executed by injection.

During a clemency hearing last month, first responders testified that the slashing murder of the teenager was the most horrific they had ever seen.

Ward’s own defense attorney at trial described him as a “severe psychopath.”

After a conviction and a retrial, Ward lat

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