Indiana Executes Weisheit for 2010 Evansville Fire

Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit by lethal injection early Thursday, Nov. 5, at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The Department of Correction said he was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. Central Standard Time.

Weisheit, 50, was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb, in a 2010 house fire near Evansville.

DOC chief communications officer Noelle Russell said the lethal injection started just after midnight, the Associated Press reported. Weisheit had no final words. His final meal was barbecue ribs from Texas Corral and Mountain Dew, according to DOC.

The execution came after Gov. Mike Braun denied clemency Monday, as Hoosier First reported Nov. 3, and after a divided Indiana Supreme Court rejected a final request for a stay Wednesday. The court voted 3-2. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff dissented and would have granted a 10-day stay for filings on the drugs' formulation, expiration, storage and testing, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. Another emergency motion filed Wednesday night was also denied, 14 News reported.

The Capital Chronicle was the only news outlet in the witness room. Indiana does not set aside press seats, and the Chronicle's reporter attended as one of five witnesses chosen by Weisheit. His parents, his sister and attorney Joe Perkovich filled the other places.

The blinds over the chamber window opened at 12:34 a.m. and closed at 12:37 a.m., the Chronicle reported. Weisheit lay on the gurney as his spiritual adviser, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, spoke over him. The Chronicle's reporter did not see Weisheit move or open his eyes and could not tell whether he was conscious or where an IV line had been placed.

"They sure did not allow us to see very much," said Bert Weisheit, his father.

Perkovich said afterward in the prison parking lot that the limited view left him unable to judge his client's condition.

State officials said the case had been settled through years of appeals. In a statement after the execution, Braun said:

"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 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."

Attorney General Todd Rokita said the execution delivered "long-awaited justice" for the two children. "Nothing can ever bring their children back, and the pain of this loss will never fully leave them," Rokita said. "Yet, hopefully, with this justice being done, they may find some measure of peace."

Questions about the drug supplier remain open. The Indiana Board of Pharmacy's Nov. 9 agenda still listed a show-cause case against Pharmaneek Inc., the Indianapolis pharmacy identified as the state's execution drug supplier, as of Thursday morning. Weisheit's lawyers said the hearing had been moved to Dec. 14, the Chronicle reported. A supplemental defense filing alleged that the pharmacy gave $5,000 to Rokita's campaign in June while on probation.

In a statement after the execution, Weisheit's lawyers said his family had "lost a son and a brother" and grieved "yet again over the tragedy of his unspeakable and incomprehensible acts against the two innocent children in this case."

Weisheit's execution was the first of three scheduled nationwide Thursday. Alabama and Florida had executions set for later in the day.