Death parts inmate that killed COP pleads for grace to avoid execution – Indianapolis News | Indiana Wetter | Indiana traffic

Michigan City, Ind. (Wish) – The Death series – Line in Benjamin Ritchie, who was convicted almost 25 years ago for murdering a police officer by Betiech Grove, had an hour to do his case that the state was supposed to save its life during a hearing on Monday.

On September 29, 2000, Ritchie and two more stolen one van. It led to a police chase, which ultimately ended with the fact that Ritchie Shooting Officer William Toney killed on the neck.

“I have ruined my life and life of other people, and I'm so sorry for this night,” Ritchie told the Indiana Parole Board during the hearing on Monday in State Prison in Michigan.

The board listened to Ritchie and asked him why he believed that the state should not carry out its plan to carry it out by fatal injection on May 20.

The board described it as a “fact -finding” notion that helps you to give governor Mike Braun a recommendation about whether it should be granted. The recommendation of the board is not binding; Braun will make the ultimate call.

“I was just a child,” said Ritchie. “Simply bent to chase his own life up and the life of everyone else around me.”

Toney left a woman and two daughters – 4 years old and 18 months old.

Toney's widow refused to talk about the hearing when he was contacted by News 8.

A week before Christmas 2024, Indiana has been carrying out his first inmates in 15 years: Joseph Corcoran.

The state submitted the request to determine Ritchie's execution date in the same week as the 24th anniversary of Toney's death.

In the recent attempts to stop his execution, Ritchie's defense argued that he had had comprehensive brain damage through a partial fetal alcohol syndrome, which influenced his impulse control, especially as 20 years old when the crime took place.

A spokesman for the Attorney General Todd Rokita said in an e -mail for News 8:

Ritchie, now 44 years old, did not mention the legal defense to influence the board to keep his execution. Instead, his regrets focused on rehabilitation efforts and hopes to help others in prison.

“I'm trying to do positive things now,” said Ritchie. “I was so excited to destroy other people's lives that I can only try to return something now.”

When asked what he would tell Toney's family if he was allowed to live, Ritchie said that everything he does will be in Toney's name. “It is terrible that he has lost his life. There is no day when I wished I could take it back. I help others screw not to insult again, not back to Indiana's prisons, I think his life could best be operated.”

Another negotiation for grace will take place in Indianapolis next Monday.