Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves will not step in to stop the scheduled execution of an inmate who has been on death row for more than 30 years.
The state’s highest-ranking elected official took to social media to discuss the case of Charles Ray Crawford, who is scheduled to be put to death at the hands of the state on Wednesday. In his post, Reeves noted that he had met with his legal team to assess the facts of Crawford’s 1994 capital murder conviction while also reviewing his petition for clemency, or leniency in his sentence, and ultimately decided not to intervene ahead of the execution.
Crawford was given the death penalty for the kidnapping, rape, and killing of Northeast Mississippi Community College student Kristy Ray. The inmate is reported to have committed these acts against Ray, a 20-year-old from Tippah County, four days before he was set to stand trial on separate aggravated assault and rape charges. The pending charges against Crawford, in part, led to him being handed a death sentence when he was tried for Ray’s killing.
“After Mr. Crawford was arrested, he admitted to law enforcement that Kristy was not alive, and he led them to her body in a wooded area near the barn. Ms. Ray’s hands were cuffed behind her back, a sock had been stuffed in her mouth, and her jeans were pulled down below her hips,” Reeves wrote.
“DNA evidence from the crime scene matched DNA samples taken from Mr. Crawford. A jury convicted Mr. Crawford of the murder of Ms. Ray while engaged in kidnapping, as well as rape. A jury sentenced him to death,” he continued. “Crawford has never claimed actual innocence, and his conviction has been upheld multiple times by the Mississippi Supreme Court.”
I have met with my counsel to review and discuss the facts of Charles Ray Crawford’s 1994 conviction for capital murder and his clemency petition. Less than a week prior to going to trial on unrelated charges of aggravated assault with a hammer and the rape of a…
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) October 13, 2025
The governor’s approval of Crawford’s execution follows cries from anti-death penalty activist groups, which contend that the punishment is inhumane. The Execution Intervention Project specifically accused Reeves and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch of aggressively pursuing death warrants for political reasons, while further contending that the state itself is “clinging to a brutal, outdated system built on vengeance, politics, and cruelty.” Fitch requested in June that Crawford’s execution date be set.
“Tate Reeves and Lynn Fitch are not delivering justice-they are staging executions to score political points,” Execution Intervention Project cofounder Dr. Jeff Hood, a priest who serves as a spiritual advisor to death row inmates, said. “This is about spectacle, not safety. Every execution Mississippi carries out leaves blood on the hands of our leaders and shame on our state.”
In addition to the demands for clemency from outside groups, Crawford’s legal team has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the inmate’s case for possible Sixth Amendment violations. Lawyers representing Crawford argued that his capital murder trial lawyers erred in court when conceding he was guilty of kidnapping, raping, and killing Ray against his wishes.
“At petitioner’s capital trial, petitioner’s counsel repeatedly conceded petitioner’s guilt before the jury, going so far as to argue that petitioner was ‘legally responsible’ and ‘still dangerous,'” the attorneys wrote to the nation’s high court. “Petitioner objected both to counsel and to the trial court, to no avail. Petitioner was convicted and sentenced to death.”
Meanwhile, the Mississippi Supreme Court said that Crawford had “exhausted all state and federal remedies” to avoid being put to death when scheduling his execution a month ago. Barring a quick move by the U.S. Supreme Court, Crawford is slated to be the first inmate executed in the state since Richard Gerald Jordan was lethally injected this past summer.
