AG asks state Supreme Court to set Crawford’s execution date

JACKSON – On the same day a federal appeals court rejected death row inmate Charles Ray Crawford’s appeal, Mississippi’s attorney general asked the state’s highest court to set an execution date before the end of the year.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Crawford’s final federal appeal on Friday, Nov. 22. About five hours after that decision was issued, Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office filed a motion asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to set a date for Crawford within the next 30 days. death by lethal injection.

“Crawford has exhausted all state and federal remedies,” the motion said. “The State moved this court to set Crawford’s execution date within 30 days because there are no legal impediments to setting that execution date.”

Crawford, 58, admitted to kidnapping, raping and murdering 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray more than 30 years ago. A jury found him guilty of capital murder and sentenced him to death in April 1994, but years of legal wrangling kept him away from the death chamber at Parchman.

His appeal of the capital murder conviction exhausted in 2014, so Crawford appealed a separate rape conviction that the state used in defending the death penalty. The U.S. District Court initially rejected the federal appeal, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear the case. The New Orleans-based court heard oral arguments in October 2023. The 15 justices deliberated for more than 13 months before issuing an 11-4 decision rejecting the appeal.

In April 1991, Crawford, then 25, took her 17-year-old sister-in-law and another 16-year-old daughter to an abandoned house in Tippah County. He raped the 17-year-old at gunpoint, then went outside and hit the other girl in the back of the head with a hammer. He survived.

Crawford was charged with rape, kidnapping and aggravated assault. He was released on bail pending the hearing. He was later convicted of rape and assault and sentenced to a total of 66 years in prison.

Just four days before the trial was to begin, Crawford, 26, abducted Ray from his home in Chalybeate on January 29, 1993. He left a ransom note and then took her to a secluded barn in the woods. He raped and killed her. After finding a similar ransom note in their home, his family contacted law enforcement, fearing that Crawford would commit another crime.

He was arrested in a short time. She claimed she blacked out and had no memory of the rape or murder, but later led authorities to Ray’s body.

The Capital murder case began in Lafayette County in April 1994. He moved out of Tippah County to find a jury with little knowledge of the case. The jury deliberated for just an hour before returning a guilty verdict. During the sentencing phase, the jury was out for about three hours before returning with the death penalty.

Crawford’s appeal of the death penalty and death penalty ended in 2014 when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear it. The next day, Crawford filed the first petition to appeal the rape conviction. He argued that if it weren’t for his rape conviction, the jury would never have sentenced him to death.

That appeal lasted nearly a decade until it was rejected last week.