The Indiana Capital Chronicle was the only media outlet to witness the execution. This story will be updated with observations from inside the prison.
MICHIGAN CITY — Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit early Thursday for murdering 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb, in a 2010 house fire near Evansville.
Weisheit was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. Central Standard Time at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to a release from Department of Correction.
Indiana Department of Correction says the execution process started shortly after midnight, and that Weisheit had no final words. His final meal was barbecue ribs from Texas Corral and Mountain Dew.
Gov. Mike Braun denied clemency on Monday, rejecting Weisheit’s request for life without parole. His lawyers separately sought a temporary reprieve and an independent investigation of Indiana’s lethal injection procedures and drug procurement.
Braun’s office did not publicly announce a decision on the reprieve request or comment on it before the execution. But they did release a statement after Weisheit’s death.
“Jeffrey Weisheit’s case has been heard and reviewed numerous times by both state and federal courts, including the Indiana Supreme Court, since his conviction in 2013. These reviews have never resulted in an overturned sentence,” the governor said. “The State Parole Board issued a unanimous recommendation to deny Weisheit’s final appeal for clemency and that his execution proceed as scheduled. Today, Weisheit’s sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court.”
The Indiana Supreme Court voted 3-2 Wednesday to deny Weisheit’s emergency request to stop the execution while he challenged the drugs and lethal injection procedures in Marion Superior Court. His attorneys alleged improper drug procurement, inadequate storage safeguards and insufficient qualifications for staff placing IV lines. A supplemental filing also alleged that the pharmacy supplying the drugs contributed $5,000 to Attorney General Todd Rokita’s campaign in June while on probation.
The court questioned why Weisheit’s lawyers waited until hours before the execution to seek a stay. His attorneys said they could not have filed sooner because they had only recently learned the supplier’s identity and when DOC obtained the drugs.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff dissented, saying they would grant a 10-day stay for immediate submissions on the drugs’ formulation, expiration, storage and testing, along with the timing of the defense’s disclosures and filings and whether Weisheit had exhausted available remedies.
At a Statehouse news conference Wednesday afternoon, defense attorney Joe Perkovich urged Braun to intervene and said the legal team would continue pursuing questions about the drugs.
“This will not be resolved by simply taking his life,” Perkovich said.
Attorney General Todd Rokita said “this case stands as a clear affirmation that those who commit the most heinous crimes against the most vulnerable will be held fully accountable under Indiana law. My thoughts and prayers remain with the families of Alyssa and Caleb. Nothing can ever bring their children back, and the pain of this loss will never fully leave them. Yet, hopefully, with this justice being done, they may find some measure of peace.”
Outside the prison, the Diocese of Gary organized a Wednesday night prayer vigil. The Indiana Abolition Coalition, Death Penalty Action and other opponents remained in the prison parking lot through the execution. A separate protest was scheduled late Wednesday outside Braun’s Indianapolis residence.
Weisheit’s legal team also sent the Indiana Board of Pharmacy a letter Wednesday asking to address its Nov. 9 disciplinary hearing involving Pharmaneek Inc., the Indianapolis pharmacy the identified as Indiana’s execution drug supplier.
Pharmaneek is on probation and faces possible emergency suspension over alleged violations of restrictions on compounding, the preparation of customized medications. The board has not ordered suspension in that proceeding.
The hearing was moved from Oct. 5 to Nov. 9 after the pharmacy’s newly retained attorney requested additional preparation time. Perkovich questioned that timing in Wednesday’s letter, pointing to DOC’s Sept. 25 invoice for the $275,000 drug purchase and an inventory entry recording delivery Oct. 29.
The board did not respond Wednesday to the Capital Chronicle’s questions about the pharmacy’s role, the hearing’s postponement or whether Weisheit’s attorneys would be permitted to speak at the upcoming meeting.
Perkovich said Wednesday that the defense still had not received testing results or temperature records for the newly acquired drugs. Similar public records requests from the Capital Chronicle had not yielded those documents as of late Wednesday, either.
DOC and the attorney general’s office previously defended the state’s preparations, saying they were confident the execution could be carried out lawfully. The attorney general’s office also expressed confidence it could proceed safely. Both agencies declined to discuss supplier information, however, citing state confidentiality law.
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
