Indiana death row inmate asks US Supreme Court to halt execution

An Indiana death row inmate set to be executed in less than 2 weeks is asking for the nation's highest court to intervene.

Lawyers for Benjamin Ritchie wrote that their client was "sentenced to death based on inaccurate information" in a May 7 filing to the U.S. Supreme Court. They are asking for the execution to be paused so that Ritchie can pursue appeals related to ineffective assistance of counsel at the time of his trial.

Ritchie was convicted in 2002 of the murder of a Beech Grove police officer. According to court documents, then-20-year-old Ritchie was fleeing police in a stolen van on Sept. 29, 2000, when he pulled into someone's yard and ran from the vehicle. Officer William Toney followed on foot. Ritchie turned around and shot him 4 times. The officer was declared dead at the scene.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

At the 2002 trial, Ritchie's defense attorneys did not present evidence that their client has a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The developmental disability is associated with cognitive impairment and poor impulse control. His current attorneys argue that the diagnosis, which has since been confirmed, would have been considered a mitigating factor during sentencing.

Instead, prosecutors told the jury that he had no such diagnosis, and Ritchie was sentenced to death.

"Ritchie's attorneys allowed the State to create a materially false impression with the jury," the May 7 petition to the U.S. Supreme Court reads.

The appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court comes after the Indiana Supreme Court rejected Ritchie's bid for the state to stay his execution on April 15. That ruling ended his ability to further appeal his case in nearly all courts.

The 4 Indiana justices' opinions were evenly split. Two wrote that new evidence of fetal alcohol syndrome was "irrelevant," and two wrote they would at least delay the execution to examine the evidence. The court's fifth justice, Mark Massa, earlier recused himself from the case because he worked for the prosecution during Ritchie's 2002 trial.

Ritchie needed the majority of the court to side with him to succeed, so the state's original sentence remained.

In the May 7 filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ritchie's legal team characterizes Indiana's decision as a misinterpretation of federal law.

The U.S. Supreme Court only agrees to hear between 100 and 150 cases of the more than 7,000 submitted for its consideration each year, according to the federal government's estimation.

If the U.S. Supreme Court does not grant a stay, Gov. Mike Braun could also halt the execution by granting clemency.

Ritchie's scheduled execution date is May 20.

In December 2024, Indiana executed an inmate for the 1st time in 15 years. Joseph Corcoran, 49, died from a lethal injection on Dec. 18, 2024, in the Indiana State Prison.

Source: Indianapolis Star, Staff, May 10, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement. “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”

USA | Should Medical Research Regulations and Informed Consent Principles Apply to States’ Use of Experimental Execution Methods?

New drugs and medical treatments undergo rigorous testing to ensure they are safe and effective for public use. Under federal and state regulations, this testing typically involves clinical trials with human subjects, who face significant health and safety risks as the first people exposed to experimental treatments. That is why the law requires them to be fully informed of the potential effects and give their voluntary consent to participate in trials. Yet these regulations have not been followed when states seek to use novel and untested execution methods — subjecting prisoners to potentially torturous and unconstitutionally painful deaths. Some experts and advocates argue that states must be bound by the ethical and human rights principles of biomedical research before using these methods on prisoners.

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application. Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again. Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams. Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog