INDIANA (BTW21) – The Indiana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Benjamin Ritchie, convicted of killing Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney in September 2000, will be executed next month. The execution is scheduled for May 20, before sunrise.
Ritchie shot Officer Toney during a foot chase after Ritchie had fled from a stolen van. The officer was chasing Ritchie when he was shot four times. A jury convicted Ritchie of murder and other offenses in 2002, and the trial judge imposed the death penalty.
Ritchie has spent years challenging his conviction at both the state and federal levels. His most recent appeal sought permission to raise claims about ineffective legal counsel. Ritchie argued that his attorney failed to investigate his potential cognitive impairments, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and childhood lead exposure, which he believes could have affected his actions. He also sought to have his age of 20 at the time of the crime considered as a mitigating factor.
The Supreme Court, however, denied his motion and upheld the execution. Justice Geoffrey Slaughter wrote that additional evidence of Ritchie’s cognitive impairments would likely not have changed the outcome of his trial.
In dissent, Chief Justice Loretta Rush argued that the evidence pointed to Ritchie suffering from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder when the crime was committed. She emphasized that the death penalty should not be imposed until it is ensured that Ritchie had effective legal representation.
Ritchie’s attorney, public defender Amy Karozos, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
This will be Indiana’s first execution since Joseph Corcoran was put to death on December 18, following a 15-year hiatus due to a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs.
