The Mississippi Supreme Court on Friday set an Oct. 15 execution date for Charles Ray Crawford, the 59-year-old convicted of kidnapping and killing a 20-year-old community college student in 1993.
Crawford was sentenced to death after a jury found he fatally stabbed Kristy Ray following her abduction from her parents' home in Tippah County in northern Mississippi. He has been on death row for more than three decades.
The court on Friday also denied Crawford's third attempt for post-conviction relief. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed papers last year asking the state Supreme Court to set a date for Crawford’s execution by lethal injection, asserting that he had exhausted all state and federal remedies.
In addition to the murder conviction, Crawford has been convicted in separate trials of assaulting a woman by striking her on the head with a hammer and raping a 17-year-old girl. Prosecutors said the two victims were friends and were present at the same location during the attacks. In each case, Crawford told law enforcement he experienced blackouts and did not recall committing the crimes.
Crawford's case has undergone decades of appeals and post-conviction proceedings. The Supreme Court's order denying his latest request for relief clears the way for the state to carry out the execution if no further stay is granted by a federal court or through executive clemency.
The scheduled execution follows the June execution of Mississippi's longest-serving death row inmate earlier this year, reflecting increased movement in carrying out death sentences after prolonged periods of incarceration. The state has said it will proceed by lethal injection, the standard method of execution in Mississippi.
Court records show Crawford has exhausted state-level appeals and federal habeas petitions, which formed the basis of the attorney general's request that the court set an execution date. The Supreme Court's action on Friday formalized that request and set the Oct. 15 date.
As of Friday, there was no public record of a pending federal stay or an announced clemency petition to the governor. Any last-minute legal filings or executive interventions would be required to halt the scheduled execution.