Indiana Parole Board denies clemency for death row inmate; final decision now up to governor

Yahoo

14-05-2025

Death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie appeals to the Indiana Parole Board during a clemency hearing on Monday, May 5, 2025. (Screenshot of livestream)
The Indiana Parole Board rejected a clemency plea from Benjamin Ritchie, recommending that Gov. Mike Braun allow the death row inmate's May 20 execution to proceed as scheduled.
Ritchie, who fatally shot Beech Grove law enforcement officer William Toney during a police pursuit on Sept. 29, 2000, had petitioned the board to commute his death sentence to life without parole.
In a letter dated Tuesday, board chairwoman Gwen Horth said the five-member panel had reviewed Ritchie's application, including 'a vast amount of testimony and evidence' regarding his recent diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD), as well as his history of childhood abuse and neglect, and his conduct while incarcerated.
The board also considered the testimony of Toney's family and friends that was provided during a two-hour public hearing on Monday.
Horth said the board ultimately found that Ritchie's request for clemency 'does not rise to the level of requiring a commutation of his death sentence.'
She did not say in her letter to Braun if all board members agreed. Unlike in other clemency cases, the board did not take a public vote before issuing its decision.
Annie Goeller, a DOC spokesperson, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that the parole board 'decided to make a unanimous recommendation.'
A spokesperson for the governor's office said Wednesday that Braun 'is reviewing the recommendation.'
'By all accounts, Bill Toney was a loving husband, father, and friend as well as a devoted public servant who genuinely tried to do what was best for his community of Beech Grove,' Horth wrote on behalf of the board. She noted that Toney left behind a wife, two young daughters — aged 4 and 18 months — and many close friends, neighbors and fellow officers.
'The outcome that those individuals were promised by a jury of Mr. Ritchie's peers was that Mr. Ritchie would ultimately be put to death for his egregious actions,' Horth continued. 'The family and friends of Bill Toney have patiently waited for the day when that sentence would be fulfilled.'
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Ritchie-Recommendation
Ritchie, now 45, has been on Indiana's death row since his 2002 conviction.
During his first clemency hearing, held at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Ritchie admitted for the first time that he had intentionally fired the fatal shot and left the officer to die.
'Mr. Ritchie himself has given multiple versions of the events that transpired,' Horth wrote. 'However, during his hearing on May 5, 2025, Mr. Ritchie did admit to being in a stationary position and intentionally shooting Officer Bill Toney.'
At the time of the shooting, Ritchie was in violation of probation for a prior burglary conviction, Horth noted. His record also included a series of juvenile delinquency findings that led to his incarceration as a minor.
And although some former corrections officers praised Ritchie's behavior, the parole board's review emphasized that Ritchie has accumulated more than 40 conduct violations during his two decades in prison, some of which involved violent or threatening behavior toward officers and other inmates.
Advocates for Ritchie argued that his FASD diagnosis — a condition linked to cognitive impairments and behavioral challenges — should disqualify him from capital punishment, especially when combined with his abusive upbringing and lead exposure as a child.
'A monster running loose in the countryside.' Clemency hearings end for Indiana death row inmate
Still, Horth said the board believed those factors had already been weighed by judges and juries over the course of years of legal proceedings.
'We find that a vast majority of the information related to Benjamin Ritchie's history of abuse and neglect, including but not limited to pre-natal alcohol exposure, has been appropriately considered by the fact finders and judicial officers tasked with considering the evidence,' she said in the board's letter.
A final clemency decision now rests with Braun. The governor can accept the parole board's recommendation, or elect to commute Ritchie's death sentence to life imprisonment. There's no timetable for the governor to issue his opinion.
Without clemency, Ritchie is unlikely to succeed in challenging his death sentence.
The inmate's lawyers are seeking a last-minute execution pause from the U.S. Supreme Court, in addition to an emergency stay from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Both filings are still pending.
The Indiana Supreme Court already denied a stay.
Three clemencies have been granted in Indiana since 1976.
The most recent was in 2005, when then-Gov. Mitch Daniels commuted the death sentence for Arthur Baird, who killed his pregnant wife and her parents in 1985. Although the parole board denied his petition for clemency, Daniels granted Baird clemency one day before the scheduled execution, in part citing questions about Baird's sanity.
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