Governor of the Government and Politics Indiana, Probation Committee refuse the grace for the death series -Inasse

The Indiana Sliding Board rejected a complaint from Benjamin Ritchie and recommended that governor Mike Braun can allow the Death Jaka to be executed on May 20 as planned.

Ritchie, who had fatally shot on September 29, 2000 during a police persecution of Beech Grove, William Toney, had requested the board to bring his death sentence to life without probation.

In a letter on Tuesday, the CEO Gwen Horth said that the five -member committee of Ritchie's application had checked, including “much certificate and evidence” in relation to his recent diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome (FASD) as well as his history of child abuse and neglect as well as his behavior, while he was imprisoned.

Benjamin Ritchie's lawyers claim that the death series has long since suffered from exposure to fetal alcohol, what they say should disqualify him from the death penalty. (Photo provided by Benjamin Ritchies Lege Team)

The board also looked at the testimony of Toney's family and friends who were made available on Monday during a two -hour public hearing.

Horth said that the board ultimately found that Ritchie's application for Gnüsenheit “did not have the level of death sentence”.

In her letter to Braun, she did not say whether all board members agree. Unlike in other cases of mercy, the board of directors did not reject any public vote before his decision.

Annie Goeller, a DOC spokesman, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that the probationist has “decided to give a unanimous recommendation”.

A spokesman for the governor's office said on Wednesday that Braun “checked the recommendation”.

“According to all reports, Bill Toney was a loving husband, father and friend and a devoted official who really tried to do the best for his community of Beech Grove,” Horth wrote on behalf of the board. She noticed that Toney, two young daughters aged 4 and 18 months – and left many close friends, neighbors and other officers.

“The result that these people were promised by a jury by Mr. Ritchie's colleagues was that Mr. Ritchie would ultimately be killed because of his outrageous acts,” continued Horth. “The family and friends of Bill Toney have patiently waited for the day when this sentence would be met.”

The 45 -year -old Ritchie has been in Indiana's death cell since its conviction from 2002.

During his first grace negotiation, which was held in Michigan City in the Indiana State Prison, Ritchie admitted for the first time that he had deliberately fired the fatal shot and had left the officer to die.

“Mr. Ritchie himself gave several versions of the events that turned out,” wrote Horth. “During his hearing on May 5, 2025, Mr. Ritchie admitted to being in a stationary position and shooting the deliberately shooting officer Bill Toney.”

At the time of the shootout, Ritchie violated the probation due to a prior conviction of the burglary, Horth noted. His record also included a number of youth crime results that led to his detention as a minor.

And although some former prison officers praised Ritchie's behavior, the review of the probation committee emphasized that Ritchie had accumulated more than 40 violations of behavior during his two decades in prison, some of which included violent or threatening behavior towards officials and other occupants.

Ritchie's supporters argued that his FASD diagnosis – a disease that is associated with cognitive impairments and behavioral problems should disqualify him from the death penalty, especially in combination with his improper education and management as a child.

Nevertheless, Horth said that the board believed that these factors had already been weighed up over the years of judicial proceedings by judges and juries.

“We find that a vast majority of information about Benjamin Ritchie's history of abuse and neglect, including but not limited to exposure before birth, was checked appropriately by the facts and judicial officers who take the evidence into account,” she said in the letter of the board.

A final decision of grace is now brown. The governor can accept the recommendation of the probation committee or decide to transform Ritchie's death sentence into life imprisonment. There is no schedule for the governor to give his opinion.

Without mercy, it is unlikely that Ritchie questions his death sentence.

The lawyers of the inmate are looking for a break at the last minute in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, in addition to the emergency stay of the US district court for the southern district of Indiana. Both submissions are still pending.

The Supreme Court of Indiana has already stayed a stay.

Three terminals have been granted in Indiana since 1976.

The youngest was in 2005 when GOV at the time. Mitch Daniels changed the death sentence for Arthur Baird, who killed his pregnant wife and her parents in 1985. Although the probation of probation contested his grace, Daniels gave Baird a grace of Baird a day before the planned execution, some of them cited about Baimd's reason.