Michigan City, Ind.
Benjamin Ritchie, 45, had been at the Indiana death corridor since 2002, when he was convicted of killing Beech Grove police officer, Bill Toney, during a persecution on foot.
Ritchie was executed in Indiana State Prison in the city of Michigan, according to officials of the Indiana Correctional Department. IDOC said in a statement that the process began shortly after midnight and Ritchie was declared dead at 12:46 am
The last Ritchie meal was from Olive Garden and expressed love, support and peace for his friends and family, according to the statement.
According to state law, he was allowed five witnesses in his execution, which included his lawyer Steve Schutte, who told reporters that he had a limited vision of the process.
“I couldn’t see his face. He was lying at that time,” said Schutte. “He sat down, contracted, relaxed.”
The process was carried out hours after the United States Supreme Court declined to take the case, depleting all the legal options of Ritchie to combat the death sentence.
Dozens of people, both defenders of the penalty against death and the supporters of Toney, stopped outside the prison until early.
Indiana resumed executions in December after a parenthesis of years due to the shortage of lethal inject drugs throughout the country. Prison officials provided photos of the execution chamber before the execution of Joseph Corcoran, which shows a space that looks like an operating room with a stretcher, fluorescent lighting and an adjacent visualization room. Since then, they have offered some other details.
Among 27 states with laws of death, Indiana is one of the two that prohibits media witnesses. The other, Wyoming, has made an execution in the last half century.
Associated Press and other media organizations filed a federal lawsuit in Indiana in search of access to the media, but a federal judge denied a preliminary judicial order last week that would have allowed journalists to witness the execution of Ritchie and the futures. The judge discovered that except the media does not violate the first amendment or stands out to the media for unequal treatment.
Indiana execution is among the 12 scheduled in eight states this year. The execution of Ritchie and two others in Texas and Tennessee will take place this week.
The fatal shooting of a police officer in 2000
Ritchie was 20 when he and others stole a truck in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis. Then he shot Toney during a feet persecution, killing him.
At that time, Ritchie was on probation for a robo sentence of 1998.
Toney, 31, had worked in the Beech Grove police department for two years. The married father of two children was the first officer of the small department to be killed by shooting in the fulfillment of duty.
Family members spoke at a clemency audience last week in support of execution.
“It’s time. We are all tired,” said Dee Dee Horen, who was Toney’s wife. “It’s time for this chapter for my story, our story, to be closed. It’s time to remember Bill, remember Bill’s life, and not his death.”
Appealing a death sentence
Ritchie’s lawyers have fought against the death sentence, arguing that their legal advisor at the trial was ineffective because their lawyers did not investigate and did not present evidence on their fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and exposure to children’s lead.
The current defense lawyers say that Ritchie suffered “severe brain damage” because his mother abused alcohol and drugs during pregnancy and has fought with decision making. He was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2005.
The defenders of the rights of the disabled argued that Ritchie’s brain damage should have excluded it from the death penalty.
“This is a silly, meaningless and agonizing loss of time and money,” said Schutte, who added that Ritchie was no longer “the same person who committed that crime.”
Attorney General Todd Rokita said the execution honored Toney’s “sacrifice to the community.”
Republican governor Mike Braun rejected Ritchie Clemence offer last week without explanation.
Indiana’s Supreme Court denied a request to stop the execution. Ritchie’s lawyers questioned that decision in the Federal Court, which a judge rejected. The 7th Court of Appeals of the United States Circuit was put on the side of the lower court on Sunday.
When the sun stood on Monday, Reverend Richard Holy, a Catholic priest, recited the rosary with about 20 people in prison parking.
“We don’t have to continue taking a life for exactly justice for taking another,” he said.
Dozens also showed up to honor Toney’s memory.
“Support the death penalty in certain cases and this is one of them,” said Mark Hamner, an officer of the Indianapolis area.
Express regret and wait for execution
The lawyers said Ritchie changed during their more than two decades after bars and had shown remorse.
In court when I was young, Ritchie smiled at Horen and laughed when the verdict was read.
He told a probation board that he deeply regretted his actions, especially how he acted with Toney’s widow.
“I would like to be able to return to day in court, because that man’s wife deserved to say everything he needed to tell me, and that punk boy should have kept his mouth closed and let him say whatever he needed to say,” said Ritchie.
Ritchie, who was also a father, spent his last days receiving visits from friends and family.
“I have ruined my life and the lives of other people, and I’m very sorry that night,” he told the Board of Probation at the beginning of this month. “You can’t recover what you did.”
