Mississippi
Mississippi asks for execution date of man convicted in 1993 killing, lawyers plan to appeal case to SCOTUS
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, a Republican, is seeking an execution date for a convicted killer who has been on death row for 30 years, but his lawyer argues that the request is premature since the man plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Charles Ray Crawford, 58, was sentenced to death in connection with the 1993 kidnapping and killing of 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray, according to The Associated Press.
During his 1994 trial, jurors pointed to a past rape conviction as an aggravating circumstance when they issued Crawford’s sentence, but his attorneys said Monday that they are appealing that conviction to the Supreme Court after a lower court ruled against them last week.
Crawford was arrested the day after Ray was kidnapped from her parents’ home and stabbed to death in Tippah County. Crawford told officers he had blacked out and did not remember killing her.
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Mississippi death row inmate Charles Ray Crawford, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1994 in the 1993 kidnapping and killing of a community college student, 20-year-old Kristy Ray. (Mississippi Department of Corrections via AP)
He was arrested just days before his scheduled trial on a charge of assaulting another woman by hitting her over the head with a hammer.
The trial for the assault charge was delayed several months before he was convicted. In a separate trial, Crawford was found guilty in the rape of a 17-year-old girl who was friends with the victim of the hammer attack. The victims were at the same place during the attacks.
Crawford said he also blacked out during those incidents and did not remember committing the hammer assault or the rape.
During the sentencing portion of Crawford’s capital murder trial in Ray’s death, jurors found the rape conviction to be an “aggravating circumstance” and gave him the death sentence, according to court records.
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During the sentencing portion of Crawford’s capital murder trial, jurors found his prior rape conviction to be an “aggravating circumstance” and gave him the death sentence. (iStock)
In his latest federal appeal of the rape case, Crawford claimed his previous lawyers provided unconstitutionally ineffective assistance for an insanity defense. He received a mental evaluation at the state hospital, but the trial judge repeatedly refused to allow a psychiatrist or other mental health professional outside the state’s expert to help in Crawford’s defense, court records show.
On Friday, a majority of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Crawford’s appeal.
But the dissenting judges wrote that he received an “inadequately prepared and presented insanity defense” and that “it took years for a qualified physician to conduct a full evaluation of Crawford.” The dissenting judges quoted Dr. Siddhartha Nadkarni, a neurologist who examined Crawford.
“Charles was laboring under such a defect of reason from his seizure disorder that he did not understand the nature and quality of his acts at the time of the crime,” Nadkarni wrote. “He is a severely brain-injured man (corroborated both by history and his neurological examination) who was essentially not present in any useful sense due to epileptic fits at the time of the crime.”
Photo shows the gurney of an execution chamber. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
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Crawford’s case has already been appealed multiple times using various arguments, which is common in death penalty cases.
Hours after the federal appeals court denied Crawford’s latest appeal, Fitch filed documents urging the state Supreme Court to set a date for Crawford’s execution by lethal injection, claiming that “he has exhausted all state and federal remedies.”
However, the attorneys representing Crawford in the Mississippi Office of Post-Conviction Counsel filed documents on Monday stating that they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court’s ruling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Odds of winning the Powerball and Mega Millions are NOT in your favor
Odds of hitting the jackpot in Mega Millions or Powerball are around 1-in-292 million. Here are things that you’re more likely to land than big bucks.
The Mississippi Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 17, 2025, results for each game:
Winning Mississippi Match 5 numbers from Dec. 17 drawing
05-14-24-31-33
Check Mississippi Match 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 3 numbers from Dec. 17 drawing
Midday: 0-3-8, FB: 8
Evening: 6-8-3, FB: 7
Check Cash 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 4 numbers from Dec. 17 drawing
Midday: 3-5-3-0, FB: 8
Evening: 8-0-9-4, FB: 7
Check Cash 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from Dec. 17 drawing
Midday: 02
Evening: 05
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Story continues below gallery.
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
Winnings of $599 or less can be claimed at any authorized Mississippi Lottery retailer.
Prizes between $600 and $99,999, may be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters or by mail. Mississippi Lottery Winner Claim form, proper identification (ID) and the original ticket must be provided for all claims of $600 or more. If mailing, send required documentation to:
Mississippi Lottery Corporation
P.O. Box 321462
Flowood, MS
39232
If your prize is $100,000 or more, the claim must be made in person at the Mississippi Lottery headquarters. Please bring identification, such as a government-issued photo ID and a Social Security card to verify your identity. Winners of large prizes may also have the option of setting up electronic funds transfer (EFT) for direct deposits into a bank account.
Mississippi Lottery Headquarters
1080 River Oaks Drive, Bldg. B-100
Flowood, MS
39232
Mississippi Lottery prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. For detailed instructions and necessary forms, please visit the Mississippi Lottery claim page.
When are the Mississippi Lottery drawings held?
- Cash 3: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Cash 4: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Match 5: Daily at 9:30 p.m. CT.
- Cash Pop: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Mississippi editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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A Mississippi restaurant has made a short list of the hottest new restaurants in America for 2025. Esquire named the 33 best new places to eat.
“… This has been the Year of the Good Time,” writer Joshua David Stein noted. “A good time not in an ‘ostrich in the sand’ way or in a ‘decline and fall of the Roman Empire’ mode. A good time founded on the recognition that good times — with friends around a table, breaking bread — are more important than ever in chaotic, topsy-turvy years like these.”
The national list includes places that meet what Esquire’s Food & Drinks Editor Jeff Hordinier calls “’the five C’s’ —we’re looking for a sweet spot of hospitality that incorporates comfort, creativity, cool, community, and (of course) excellent cooking.”
Which Mississippi seafood place did Esquire call one of the best new restaurants?
Siren Social Club in Gulfport made the Esquire list of the Top 33 new restaurants in the U.S. Chef Adam Sumrall and his wife and business partner Tresse Sumrall recently attended a party in New York City to celebrate the honor.
“The old building used to be a mortuary, but it’s got plenty of life in it now. Festooned with images of tropical flora and ruled by a statue of an orange enchantress who looks ready for the Life of a Showgirl world tour, Siren Social Club makes it clear from the outset that you are here to shake off the cobweb,” chef Amethyst Ganaway wrote for Esquire.
The Sumralls opened Siren on Halloween night in 2024. It’s in the same building a Hotel Vela, a boutique option in Gulf Coast hospitality. The pair also run White Pillars in Biloxi.
They excel at elevated dining experiences in fun, elegant settings. The Michelin guide also gave both Siren Social Club and White Pillars nods in its first American South’s 2025 Recommended Restaurants list.
“Siren Social Club dares to be different,” the guide notes.
Southern Living also named it one of the 20 new restaurants in the South earlier this year.
“Swanky and cool, it’s a fun spot for early birds and night owls alike,” wrote Senior Food Editor Josh Miller.
What’s on the Siren Social Club menu?
Chef Adam Sumrall brings Southern cooking paired with haute cuisine training. He’s a graduate of Ole Miss and the Culinary Institute of America, according to the Hotel Vela website. The McComb native won the King of American Seafood title at the 2021 Great American Seafood Cook-off in New Orleans. He’s a James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for best chef in the South who’s been featured on several cooking shows. Sumrall won Food Network’s “Alex vs America.”
“Their admirably robust menu indulges coastal cravings via seasonal oysters and Gulf shrimp while appeasing land lovers with steakhouse favorites and handmade pastas,” Miller wrote.
Esquire highlighted the “luxe party food,” particularly crispy chicken with hot honey, thousand-layer potatoes, beef Wellington and a shrimp cocktail that comes with buttered crackers.
Current menu listings include a caviar service, beef tartare and pork chop paillard.
When can I go to Siren Social Club?
According to the website, Siren Social Club is open 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
It’s at 1409 24th Ave., Gulfport.
Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with USA TODAY Network. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.
Odds of winning the Powerball and Mega Millions are NOT in your favor
Odds of hitting the jackpot in Mega Millions or Powerball are around 1-in-292 million. Here are things that you’re more likely to land than big bucks.
The Mississippi Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 16, 2025, results for each game:
Winning Mississippi Match 5 numbers from Dec. 16 drawing
02-09-13-18-29
Check Mississippi Match 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 3 numbers from Dec. 16 drawing
Midday: 3-3-2, FB: 4
Evening: 5-9-3, FB: 9
Check Cash 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 4 numbers from Dec. 16 drawing
Midday: 3-9-2-0, FB: 4
Evening: 9-8-3-6, FB: 9
Check Cash 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from Dec. 16 drawing
Midday: 05
Evening: 02
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Story continues below gallery.
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
Winnings of $599 or less can be claimed at any authorized Mississippi Lottery retailer.
Prizes between $600 and $99,999, may be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters or by mail. Mississippi Lottery Winner Claim form, proper identification (ID) and the original ticket must be provided for all claims of $600 or more. If mailing, send required documentation to:
Mississippi Lottery Corporation
P.O. Box 321462
Flowood, MS
39232
If your prize is $100,000 or more, the claim must be made in person at the Mississippi Lottery headquarters. Please bring identification, such as a government-issued photo ID and a Social Security card to verify your identity. Winners of large prizes may also have the option of setting up electronic funds transfer (EFT) for direct deposits into a bank account.
Mississippi Lottery Headquarters
1080 River Oaks Drive, Bldg. B-100
Flowood, MS
39232
Mississippi Lottery prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. For detailed instructions and necessary forms, please visit the Mississippi Lottery claim page.
When are the Mississippi Lottery drawings held?
- Cash 3: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Cash 4: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Match 5: Daily at 9:30 p.m. CT.
- Cash Pop: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Mississippi editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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