JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) announced the execution of a Mississippi death row inmate will proceed this month.

Officials said the lawyers for Charles Ray Crawford filed an Emergency Application for Stay of Execution, as well as a certiorari petition before the United States Supreme Court on October 1, 2025.

In September 2025, the Mississippi Supreme Court set October 15, 2025, as the execution date for Crawford. The court denied his post-conviction appeal.

Crawford was sentenced to death in the 1993 kidnapping and killing of a community college student, 20-year-old Kristy Ray. Jurors in his 1994 trial cited a past rape conviction as an aggravating circumstance when they sentenced Crawford.

Crawford was arrested the day after Ray was abducted from her parents’ home and stabbed to death in northern Mississippi’s Tippah County. Crawford told officers he had blacked out and did not recall killing her.

At the time of that arrest, Crawford was days away from his scheduled trial on a charge of assaulting another woman by hitting her over the head with a hammer.

The assault trial was delayed several months, and he was convicted. In a separate trial, Crawford was convicted in the rape of a 17-year-old girl who was friends with the victim of the hammer assault. The two victims were at the same place during the attacks. Crawford said he also experienced blackouts and did not recall committing the rape or the hammer assault.

During the sentencing portion of Crawford’s capital murder trial, jurors found the rape conviction was an “aggravating circumstance” and they sentenced him to death, court records show.

Mr. Crawford has never claimed actual innocence, and his conviction has been upheld multiple times by the Mississippi Supreme Court. His most recent appeal and stay motion was considered and unanimously rejected last week by the Mississippi Supreme Court. At this time, all necessary procedures are being followed with the anticipation that, absent a last minute stay from the United States Supreme Court, Mr. Crawford’s execution will proceed as scheduled on October 15, 2025.

This is a solemn responsibility, and it is something that no one takes pleasure in. However, it is a responsibility I accept with the utmost seriousness in keeping with the oath I swore to faithfully carry out the duties of Governor.

Mississippi is praying for Ms. Ray and her family. Justice must be served on behalf of victims. In Mississippi, it will be.
Gov. Tate Reeves (R-Miss.)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.