AG Wants Rape Conviction Appeal Thrown Out

Crawford

BY JACK ELLIOTT JR.
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — The attorney general’s office is asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to throw out Charles Ray Crawford’s appeal of his 1994 rape conviction.

Crawford, now 48, is currently on Mississippi’s death row for the 1992 slaying of Kristy Ray in the Chalybeate community in Tippah County.

In his appeal, Crawford claims he received ineffective counsel to defend himself against the rape charges, which were used by prosecutors to seek in the death penalty in Ray’s death.

The attorney general argues in documents filed Monday that Crawford got a fair trial.

If the state Supreme Court upholds Crawford’s conviction in the earlier case, Hood could again petition the court to set an execution date. Crawford’s lawyers argue that the death sentence would be negated if the conviction is reversed.