Jackson, Miss. JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 20-year-old community college student is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening at the Mississippi State Prison in Parchman.
Charles Crawford, 59, has been awaiting death row for more than 30 years. The scheduled lethal injection comes several months after Mississippi’s longest-serving death row inmate is executed In the year of Increased executions At the national level.
Crawford was convicted of kidnapping Christy Raye from her parents’ home in Tippah County, north of Mississippi, on January 29, 1993. According to court records, when Raye’s mother returned home, her daughter’s car was gone and she left a handwritten ransom note on the table.
On the same day, a different ransom note, made from magazine clippings and relating to a woman named Jennifer, was found in the attic of Crawford’s ex-father-in-law. The warrant was turned over to law enforcement, who began searching for Crawford. He was arrested the next day and said he was returning from a fishing trip.
He later told authorities that he lost consciousness and did not remember killing Ray.
At the time of his arrest, Crawford was days away from standing trial on a separate assault charge. This stemmed from a 1991 attack in which Crawford was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl and beating her friend with a hammer.
Despite his assertions that he had a blackout and did not remember committing the rape or the hammer attack, Crawford was found guilty of both charges in two separate trials.
His previous rape conviction was deemed an “aggravating circumstance” by jurors in Crawford’s capital murder trial for Ray’s murder, paving the way for his death sentence.
For the past three decades, Crawford has unsuccessfully tried to have his death sentence overturned.
His lawyers are currently appealing to the US Supreme Court, arguing that Crawford should be granted a new trial because his Sixth Amendment rights were violated in his 1994 trial.
The appeal claims that Crawford’s attorneys admitted his guilt at the capital murder trial and pursued the insanity defense despite Crawford’s repeated objections. The argument relies on a 2018 Supreme Court ruling, which ordered A A new trial for a prisoner sentenced to death It has been proven that a criminal defendant’s lawyer cannot override the client’s desire to maintain his innocence at trial.
“It’s as if he didn’t even have the opportunity to make a case of innocent or guilty because his attorney overruled his wishes from the beginning,” said Chrissy Nobile, director of the Mississippi Office of Post-Conviction Capital Relief, which is representing Crawford.
The Mississippi Supreme Court rejected the argument in September, writing that Crawford should have filed the appeal sooner and did not provide sufficient reasons why the high court’s 2018 ruling should be retroactive.
After the Mississippi Supreme Court Determine the date of his execution In September, Nobile said Crawford expressed his disappointment and determination.
“He has a deep faith in God and trusts Him,” Nobile said. “He wants to be the best person he can be in the time he has left.”
Nobile described Crawford as a respectful and cheerful presence on death row. She said he works inside the prison and advocates for other inmates who may have mental health issues or need medical care.
The Associated Press made multiple attempts to contact Ray’s relatives but received no response. Crawford also did not respond to requests for comment.
The lethal injection is scheduled to be the third in two days in the United States after the executions that took place on Tuesday in Florida and Missouri. Total 37 men They died executing a judicial ruling So far this year in the United States.
in florida, Samuel Lee SmithersHe, 72, was executed for the 1996 murder of two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond. In Missouri, Lance Shockley He was executed for shooting a government soldier in 2005.