Mississippi Man Executed for 1993 Kidnapping and Murder

A 59-year-old Mississippi man, Charles Crawford, was put to death on Wednesday for the 1993 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray. Crawford spent over 30 years on death row, his execution following that of Mississippi's longest-serving inmate amidst a national increase in capital punishment.

Crawford was convicted of abducting Ray from her parents' home in northern Mississippi's Tippah County on January 29, 1993. According to court records, a handwritten ransom note had been left on the table, and a different ransom note, made from magazine cutouts, was found in the attic of Crawford's former father-in-law. The note was turned over to law enforcement, who began searching for Crawford. He was arrested a day later and said he was returning from a hunting trip. He later told authorities he blacked out and did not recall killing Ray.

Key Takeaways:

• Charles Crawford was executed on Wednesday for the 1993 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 20-year-old Kristy Ray.
• Crawford spent over 30 years on death row before being put to death.
• His execution follows that of Mississippi's longest-serving inmate amidst a national increase in capital punishment.
• Crawford was convicted of abducting Ray from her parents' home in northern Mississippi's Tippah County on January 29, 1993.
• The prosecution's case against Crawford relied on his prior rape conviction, which was considered an "aggravating circumstance" by jurors in his capital murder trial.
• Crawford's lawyers had appealed to the Supreme Court, but in an order issued minutes before the execution, the high court declined without explanation to stop it.
• Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent that was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
• The appeal alleged that Crawford's lawyers admitted his guilt in the capital murder trial and pursued an insanity defense despite Crawford's repeated objections.
• Krissy Nobile, the director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Relief, represented Crawford and argued that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated.
• The Mississippi Supreme Court had dismissed the argument in September, writing that Crawford should have brought the appeal sooner and did not present adequate reasoning why the Supreme Court ruling should be retroactive.

Statistics:

• 59 is the age of Charles Crawford at the time of his execution.
• 20 years was the age of Kristy Ray, the victim of Crawford's crime.
• 30 years is the amount of time Crawford spent on death row before being put to death.
• 1993 is the year in which Crawford abducted and murdered Ray.
• 38 is the number of men who have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the United States.
• 3 is the number of executions that took place in the U.S. in the past two days, including Crawford's execution.

Sources:

• The Associated Press
• Mississippi Department of Corrections via AP, file
• Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP