Indiana completes execution of cop killer, its second since 2009

As reported in this press article, an "Indiana man convicted in the 2000 killing of a police officer was put to death by lethal injection early Tuesday in the state's second execution since 2009."  Here is more:

Benjamin Ritchie, 45, had been on death row for more than two decades following his conviction in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase.

Ritchie was executed at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to Indiana Department of Correction officials. IDOC said in an online statement the execution process started shortly after midnight and he was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m.

Ritchie told a parole board earlier this month that he had changed during his more than two decades behind bars. He apologized for his actions, which led to the killing of the 31-year-old married father of two children....

Indiana resumed executions after a hiatus due to scarcity of lethal injection drugs that affected correctional departments nationwide.... Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bars media witnesses. The other, Wyoming, has conducted one execution in the last half-century. The Associated Press and other media organizations have filed a federal lawsuit in Indiana seeking media access.

The execution Tuesday in Indiana is among 12 scheduled in eight states this year. Ritchie's execution and two others in Texas and Tennessee will be carried out this week.

Ritchie was 20 when he and others stole a van in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis. He then fired four shots at Toney during a foot chase, killing him.  At the time Ritchie was on probation from a 1998 burglary conviction....

Relatives spoke at a clemency hearing last week, urging for the execution to move forward.  "It's time. We're all tired," said Dee Dee Horen, who was Toney's wife. "It is time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It's time for us to remember Bill, to remember Bill's life, and not his death."

Ritchie's attorneys have fought the death penalty sentence, arguing his legal counsel at trial was ineffective because his lawyers failed to fully investigate and present evidence on his fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and childhood lead exposure....

Republican Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ritchie's clemency bid last week as the parole board recommended. Braun didn't explain his decision, but board members said Ritchie's case didn't meet the bar for commuting a sentence and cited a dozen violations during Ritchie's time in prison, including threatening others with violence.