Indiana Executes Jeffrey Weisheit in First of Three Scheduled Deaths

Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit at Indiana State Prison early on November 5, carrying out the first of three executions scheduled in the United States that day. Indiana Department of Correction communications chief Noelle Russell said Weisheit was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. and had no final words. Russell said his final meal was barbecue ribs. Weisheit, 50, was convicted of setting a fire in 2010 that killed Alyssa Lynch, 8, and Caleb Lynch, 5, the children of his then-girlfriend. The children died of smoke inhalation, according to an autopsy account cited in the reporting. Weisheit had been on death row for 13 years and did not contest his guilt in his clemency application. Before the execution, his attorneys asked Gov. Mike Braun to halt it and order an independent review of Indiana’s procedures for obtaining lethal-injection drugs. They alleged the state obtained pentobarbital through a pharmacy on probation and facing possible license suspension. The invoice cited in their reprieve application was heavily redacted and did not identify the supplier or the transaction date. Indiana law protects the identities of execution-drug suppliers. The attorneys’ filing cited...