Inmate Sues Indiana To Stop Executions

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana man sentenced to death for the 2001 rape and murder of a 15-year-old  girl is suing the state, seeking to stop it from performing executions.

The lawsuit filed this month in LaPorte County by lawyers representing 46-year-old Roy Lee Ward seeks an injunction halting capital punishment and a court ruling that the death penalty violates Indiana’s constitution.

Ward is on death row at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was sentenced to death in 2007 for the July 2001 rape and murder of Stacy Payne.

Indiana hasn’t executed an inmate since 2009.