Indiana: Roy Lee Ward, convicted of the rape and murder of a minor, executed by lethal injection

An Indiana man was executed by lethal injection Friday at a state prison located in Michigan City, a town about 175 miles north of Indianapolis.

Roy Lee Ward, 53, was sentenced to death after being convicted of the rape and murder of Stacy Payne, a 15-year-old girl, in 2001. It happened at the victim's home.

The teenager was found with several stab wounds and with several signs of having been raped. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died hours later. At the same crime scene, Ward was arrested, who at the time had a bloody knife in his hand.

Ward's execution took place this Friday after midnight in an Indiana state prison.

In August, after a court process that lasted nearly a quarter-century, the Indiana Supreme Court set Oct. 10 as the date for Ward's execution.

Since January, there have been 35 executions in the country, AFP reported. The state in which capital punishment has been carried out the most this year is Florida (13), followed by Texas (five) and South Carolina and Alabama (four each).