Benjamin Ritchie: Indiana carries out the man who killed police officers, his second in 15 years | World news

The US state of Indiana executed a mortality convict, the second of the state since 2009.Benjamin Ritchie was executed in Michigan City, according to officials of the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) by Lethal Injection in Indiana State Prison.In an online declaration, the IDOC said that the execution process began shortly after midnight and that the inmate was declared dead at 12:46 p.m.Ritchie had been in Indiana's death cell since 2002 when he was convicted of walking on foot in 2000 for a chase.His lawyers fought for years to overthrow the death penalty, and argued that his legal support was “ineffective”, and his former lawyers “had not fully examined” whether he suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum and exposure in childhood.The 45-year-old had “severe brain damage” since the birth because, according to court documents, his mother had abused alcohol and drugs during pregnancy. “I ruined my life, others” life “Ritchie told a probation committee at the beginning of this month that he had “changed” behind bars during his more than two decades. He “apologized” for his actions, which led to the murder of Toney, the 31-year-old married father of two children.“I have ruined my life and life of other people, and I'm so sorry for this night. If I go back and only shake this child because he would not listen to anyone. You can't take back what you did.”He was 20 and on probation from a conviction from 1998 from 1998 when he and others stole a van in Beech Grove near Indianapolis. While Toney followed him on foot, he shot four shots and killed the police officer.Executions in IndianaThe state in the middle west took up the executions in December 2024, after a long break that was characterized by a lack of fatal injection medication across the country. In 27 countries with death criminal laws, Indiana is one of two in which media witnesses are blocked. The other, Wyoming, has carried out execution in the past 50 years. Ritchie's execution is one of the 12 planned people in eight states this year.(With AP inputs)