Benjamin Ritchie

No media were present when the execution took place early Tuesday morning.

Having exhausted his appeals, and clemency denied, death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie will be put to death just after midnight Tuesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

The authority to grant clemency to an Indiana death row inmate rests with the governor. The Indiana Parole Board can provide a recommendation to the governor.

Whether death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie will be executed on May 20 is now up to the state parole board and Gov. Mike Braun.

Ritchie made his case before the state’s parole board, expressing remorse for his crime and repeatedly apologizing to the slain officer’s family.

Ritchie was convicted in 2002 for the murder of a Beech Grove police officer.