Just weeks before Roy Lee Ward’s scheduled execution, the Indiana Parole Board heard conflicting portrayals Monday of the man condemned for the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne.

The five-member panel will make a recommendation to Gov. Mike Braun, who has the sole authority to decide whether to grant clemency and commute Ward’s death sentence to life in prison. His execution is currently set to take place before sunrise Oct. 10 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

Ward declined to appear before the board or submit to a prison interview, however.

In a sworn affidavit last week, Ward told the parole board that he preferred for his attorneys to be his “voice” during the clemency process.

“My decision rests in part on my desire that the victim’s family not be put in

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