Charles Crawford was executed Wednesday in Mississippi after spending over 30 years on death row for the 1993 rape and murder of college student Kristy Ray. The execution followed a long legal battle that included multiple appeals and denied clemency requests. Crawford, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. local time at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. The Mississippi Department of Corrections confirmed the execution had been scheduled, pending a stay, which was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court and Governor Tate Reeves.
Crawford’s death marked the end of a long legal battle stemming from the 1993 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 20-year-old Kristy Ray. She was abducted from her parents’ home in Tippah County on Jan. 29, 1993. Investigators found a ransom note made from magazine cutouts in the attic of Crawford’s former father-in-law, which was turned over to authorities. The note, which mentioned a woman named Jennifer, led to Crawford’s arrest the next day, as he claimed he had been returning from a hunting trip. He later admitted to blacking out and not remembering the act.
Authorities determined that Crawford took Ray from her family’s home to a remote cabin, where he handcuffed, raped, and fatally stabbed her in the chest. At the time of his arrest, he was also days away from standing trial for a 1991 assault in which he was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl and attacking her friend with a hammer. Juries later convicted Crawford in both cases, with the earlier rape conviction serving as an aggravating factor during his capital murder trial. He was sentenced to death in 1994. Over the next three decades, Crawford filed appeals which were unsuccessful. The Mississippi Supreme Court rejected his appeal in September, ruling it was filed too late.
The Associated Press reported that Crawford’s attorneys petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing his Sixth Amendment rights were violated when his defense lawyers conceded guilt and pursued an insanity defense against his wishes. Krissy Nobile, the director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Relief, who represented Crawford, said,