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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Marotta: No comment on refs, Inzaghi-Saudi talk
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here. On Friday, May 23 at 20:45, Inter will face Como at the Sinigaglia stadium for the 38th and final matchday of Serie A. The Nerazzurri, currently second with one point behind Napoli, must win and hope for a misstep by the Neapolitans against Cagliari to conquer the Scudetto. The team arrives with the best attack in the championship (77 goals) and the memory of the 2-0 victory in the first leg, signed by Carlos Augusto and Thuram. It will be a fiery finale, with the two decisive matches – Como-Inter and Napoli-Cagliari – taking place constantly updated, for the live text click on the match card above. Inter president Beppe Marotta spoke to DAZN: "We have the obligation to believe. The players know it's an important game. Destiny is not in our hands. Referees? Silence is a form of communication to be interpreted and explained. At that moment, there was tension and it had to be managed". "The championship is like a Tour of Italy, in the Champions League there are circumstances that help you. This year we played 15 more games than the others". "Inzaghi and Arabia? The contract still has a year left. We have a great symbiotic relationship, he is the main architect of this 4-year cycle. On our part, we want to continue. I don't think there are any bells ringing from his side. When the time is right, we will discuss and evaluate the renewal". Cesc Fabregas spoke to DAZN before Como: "Winning today? It would be putting the finishing touches on a beautiful season, a season of highs and lows, but with the continuity of our game idea, and this has been our strength, the fact that we haven't changed. When doubts arise, it's the worst moment for a team, for a club. When you believe a lot in an idea, then you can do beautiful things. A little time is missing, it's sometimes difficult for the kids to learn to take a little time, you have to have the will to do it". "You always have to grow, I'm the first to push the kids and the club, I think we have great potential, but with a change every 6 months of 10-12 players, you have to start from scratch every time. I think we've done a great job, let's see what next season brings, but I'm very serene, we know what we want". "Helping Conte? No, in football, there are no friends: I respect him but we don't have to do more. We have to do our best to win, then we'll see". 🧨 What Inter needs to become champions 90 minutes from the end of the championship, Inter is forced to chase: second with 78 points, just one point behind Napoli. To win the Scudetto, the Nerazzurri must beat Como and hope that Napoli does not win against Cagliari. In case of a draw or defeat for the Azzurri and a simultaneous Inter win, Inzaghi's team would overtake Napoli and win the title for the second consecutive season. If Napoli wins, any result for Inter would be useless. COMO (4-3-3): Reina; Vojvoda, Van Der Brempt, Smolcic, Valle; Caqueret, Perrone, Da Cunha; Paz, Douvikas, Strefezza. Coach Fabregas INTER (3-4-2-1): Sommer; Bisseck, De Vrij, Carlos Augusto; Darmian, Calhanoglu, Asllani, Dimarco - Correa, Zalewski - Taremi. Coach Farris 📸 PIERO CRUCIATTI - AFP or licensors
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Witness to death row execution gives chilling account of inmate's final moments
Benjamin Ritchie became the second person executed in Indiana in 15 years on Tuesday as, more than two decades after killing a police officer, the inmate was given a lethal injection A murderer who shot a police officer was killed on death row on Tuesday - after the victim's family insisted "it's time" for the sentence. Benjamin Ritchie's lawyer described the moment the 45-year-old man was given the lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Steve Schutte, the attorney, told reporters: "I couldn't see his face. He was lying flat by that time. He sat up, twitched, laid back down." Under state law, Ritchie was allowed five witnesses at his execution, including Mr Schutte. Before he became the second person executed in Indiana in 15 years, Ritchie uttered his last words: "I love my family, my friends, and all the support I've gotten. I hope they all find peace." The dad had been on death row since 2002 when he was convicted of killing Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a chase on foot. Mr Toney's family and friends stood outside the prison on Tuesday while the execution happened. Speaking last week ahead of the execution, Mr Toney's wife Dee Dee Horen said: "It's time. We're all tired. 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." The US Supreme Court declined to take the case, exhausting all of Ritchie's legal options to fight the death sentence. The father ate his last meal - a Tour of Italy dish from Olive Garden, which consists of Chicken Parmigiana, Lasangna Classico and Fettuccine Alfredo on one plate - and was then put to rest. But his attorneys had argued the death penalty was not appropriate, claiming the man was no longer "the same person who committed that crime." Mr Schutte told the court: "This is a foolish, senseless, agonising waste of time and money." Anti-death penalty advocates gathered outside the jail on Tuesday too. Indiana only resumed executions in December after a years-long hiatus. The state is one of eight, also including Texas and Tennessee, to permit executions. Ritchie was 20 when he and others stole a van in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis. He then fired at Toney during a foot chase, killing him. At the time, Ritchie was on probation from a 1998 burglary conviction. Mr Toney, 31, had worked at the Beech Grove Police Department for two years. The married father of two was the first officer of the small department to be killed by gunfire in the line of duty. In April, a murderer finally apologised for killing a young mum - minutes before he was executed on death row in Texas. Moises Sandoval Mendoza had spent more than 20 years in a state prison in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of Rachelle O'Neil Tolleson, whom he strangled and stabbed.
Chicago Tribune
20-05-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Vigil held outside Indiana State Prison hours before inmate executed
A small group, most wearing light jackets in the chilly May evening, gathered in prayer outside the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City Monday night just hours before Benjamin Ritchie was executed by lethal injection. Diocese of Gary Rev. Richard Holy, the diocese's director of pro-life activities, led the vigil of around a dozen people to pray for the end of the death penalty, for lawyers who help inmates on death row, and the prison workers who administer the execution. The group also prayed for the family of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney, who Ritchie fatally shot nearly 25 years ago. Holy said Monday night was likely 'an evening of closure' for Toney's family, as well as a difficult night for them. 'We don't need to take more life in order to protect society,' Holy said. 'People on death row can serve out life in prison, and that's absolutely no picnic. They are paying for their crime everyday.' Ritchie, 45, had been on Indiana's death row since 2002, when he was convicted of killing Toney during a foot chase. Ritchie was executed shortly after midnight Tuesday in the state's second execution in just over five months. Ritchie was executed at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to Indiana Department of Correction officials, in a process that started shortly after midnight Tuesday. Ritchie was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m. Ritchie's last meal was the Tour of Italy from Olive Garden, according to the IDOC statement. His last words were: 'I love my family, my friends and all the support I've gotten. I hope they all find peace.' Under state law, he was allowed five witnesses at his execution, which included his attorney Steve Schutte, who told reporters he had a limited view of the process. 'I couldn't see his face. He was lying flat by that time,' Schutte said. 'He sat up, twitched, laid back down.' During his clemency hearing on May 5, Ritchie said that on Sept. 29, 2000, he was with a group of guys and they stole a car from a gas station with the goal of reselling its rims. Ritchie, who was 20 years old and on court supervision at the time, said when police officers pulled up behind them it felt like 'everything sped up.' 'It's like if you had a fast-forward button on a movie and you hit the button. Everything sped out of control so fast,' Ritchie said. Ritchie said he shouldn't have stolen a car or had a gun that night. When the officers arrived, Ritchie said he should've just got out of the car and accepted the consequences. 'That night was … a train that left the station with no breaks,' Ritchie said. 'Multiple bad decisions led to losing the life of a man who should be here today.' In referencing his behavior during his sentencing, Ritchie said he shouldn't have been rude to Toney's wife. 'I had no business mouthing off to that lady,' Ritchie said. 'She had every right to say what she wanted to say to me.' Killing Toney was a 'horrible' decision, Ritchie said, but Toney's memory 'could best be served' with Ritchie spending the rest of his life in jail offering support to other inmates. During a public hearing May 12, Toney's wife Dee Dee Horen addressed the board and told them Toney was one day shy of his 32nd birthday the day he died. At the time of his death, his daughters were 4 years old and 18 months old, she said, and now his daughters are 29 and 26. The 'final justice' Toney deserves, she said, is the parole board denying Ritchie's clemency. Horen told the board she attended Ritchie's clemency hearing and she didn't hear remorse but rather excuses. Horen said Ritchie chose to kill Toney, then he chose to have Bill's unit number tattooed on his neck — in the same place Toney was fatally wounded — and he chose to call her expletives in court. 'It's time. I'm tired,' Horen said. 'It's 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.' During the public hearing, experts presented evidence and testimony about Ritchie's recent diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder. The parole board also considered Ritchie's abuse and neglect as a child, Indiana Parole Board Chair Gwendolyn Horth wrote in a letter to Gov. Mike Braun. A jury determined that Ritchie 'would ultimately be put to death for his egregious actions,' Horth wrote. Toney's family, friends and fellow police officers 'have patiently waited for the day when that sentence would be fulfilled,' Horth wrote. Ultimately, the board recommended denying Ritchie's clemency petition. Braun rejected Ritchie's clemency last week without explanation. Indiana resumed executions in December after a nearly 15-year hiatus due to a scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide. When executions resumed, there were eight men on death row. Joseph Corcoran was executed in December, followed by Ritchie on Tuesday. The Indiana Department of Correction has been in a legal battle over the release of the name of the manufacturer of its execution drug, which is pentobarbital. Prison officials in Indiana and other states have argued they will face trouble obtaining drugs for future executions if their suppliers believe they could be exposed. Some drug companies have refused to sell medications to states if they will be used for executions. As the sun set outside the Michigan City prison Monday night, Holy said Ritchie had expressed remorse for his actions. Ritchie could've helped inmates within the prison, Holy said. 'Taking the life of the person who committed that crime doesn't change it, and won't change it. It won't take away the hurt. It won't bring the person back,' Holy said. 'I can't express more sorrow for Officer Toney's family and his fellow officers, but 20-some years later, this is not going to change anything of what happened.' Frank Zolvinski, who is a Deacon at Holy Family Parish in LaPorte, said he came to the vigil to pray for the abolition of the death penalty as well as for Toney and Ritchie. 'I find it unconscionable that our Governor Mike Braun, who happens to be Catholic, would not have compassion enough to stay the execution or grant him life in prison,' Zolvinski said. Braun released a brief statement Tuesday reiterating Ritchie's legal process since his conviction in 2002. 'Today, Ritchie's sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court,' Braun said. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita issued a statement Tuesday stating Ritchie's execution 'ensures that justice was done to honor Officer Toney's sacrifice for his community,' 'With the Indiana Supreme Court's decision to set his execution date and the state's resolve to carry it out, we have reaffirmed our commitment to upholding the rule of law and protecting our communities. Let this serve as a message to those who would harm our men and women in law enforcement,' Rokita said.
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Death Row inmate's final six words before police killer died by lethal injection
Benjamin Ritchie was put to death via lethal injection around 6am UK time after more than 20 years on death row after he was convicted in the fatal shooting of a police officer A convict on Death Row has been executed after being denied a last-minute reprieve. Benjamin Ritchie, 45, was killed by lethal injection at around 6am UK time on Tuesday, having spent more than two decades in prison. He was previously convicted in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase over two decades ago. His last hope of remaining alive was shot down just two hours before his execution when the United States Supreme Court stated: 'The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Barrett and by her referred to the Court is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied'. The execution was carried out in Indiana, which continued the death penalty in December after years away from the controversial practice, attributed largely to limited availability of the lethal drugs. According to the the Daily Star, his last words were: "I love my family, my friends, and all the support I've gotten. I hope they all find peace." For his last meal, he chose the ultimate comfort food - a Tour of Italy dish from Olive Garden, which consists of Chicken Parmigiana, Lasangna Classico and Fettuccine Alfredo on one plate. A coalition of media outlets launched a federal lawsuit in Indiana to secure media access, but a federal judge rejected a preliminary injunction last week that would have permitted journalists to attend Ritchie's execution, as well as any in the future. The judge ruled that excluding the news media does not breach the First Amendment nor does it unfairly single out the press. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita stated: "Early this morning, justice was served with the execution of Benjamin Ritchie, who was convicted of the heinous murder of Beech Grove Police Officer William Toney on September 29, 2000. "Today's action ensures that justice was done to honour Officer Toney's sacrifice for his community. Let this serve as a message to those who would harm our men and women in law enforcement." Ritchie was only 20 years old when he was apprehended and charged. He and others had stolen a van in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis, before firing four shots at police officer Toney during a foot chase, killing him. At the time, Ritchie was also on probation for a 1998 burglary conviction. Toney was 31 years old and had served as an officer at the Beech Grove Police Department for two years. He was the first of approximately 30 officers to be killed by a firearm while on duty. "Everyone of us involved, including Bill, had something stolen from them that they'll never get back," said Deputy Police Chief Tom Hurrle, who worked alongside Toney. The tragedy shocked the community of around 14,000 residents, who remembered the father of two as someone who always lent a helping hand. Ritchie's final days were punctuated by visits from friends and family. State regulations permit him up to five witnesses for his execution, including legal representatives and companions. "I've ruined my life and other people's lives, and I'm so sorry for that night," he expressed remorsefully to the parole board earlier this month. "You can't take back what you did."
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Benjamin Ritchie's last meal, final words before execution in Beech Grove officer's murder
In the early morning hours of May 20, Indiana executed Benjamin Ritchie via lethal injection. He was sentenced to death more than two decades ago for the murder of William Toney, a Beech Grove police officer. The execution began just after 12:01 a.m. at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Ritchie was declared dead at 12:46 a.m., according to the Indiana Department of Corrections. His last meal was the Tour of Italy from Olive Garden. "I love my family, my friends, and all the support I've gotten,' Ritchie said in his last words. 'I hope they all find peace." In the months before his death, Ritchie filed a slew of appeals seeking to halt the execution. His legal team argued that defense attorneys who represented Ritchie in his 2002 trial failed to introduce his diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which the jury could have considered a mitigating factor during sentencing. Late on May 19, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant a stay of Ritchie's execution. In a statement released hours after Ritchie's death, his attorney described the execution as "the result of prioritizing finality over fairness." "We continue to believe, as did half of the Indiana Supreme Court, that Ben's execution was inappropriate. Indiana executed a man with profound brain damage and developmental disabilities," public defender Mark Koselke said in a statement. Bill Toney: Indiana executes Benjamin Ritchie for young police officer's murder. Widow honors victim. Ritchie's is the second execution after Indiana's $900,000 purchase of pentobarbital in 2024 made the death penalty possible for the first time in 15 years. Joseph Corcoran, the first man executed since 2009, died on Dec. 18, 2024. "While there is no peace in the execution, there is comfort in the realization that society has kept its promise to the men and women of law enforcement to hold those accountable for their reckless choices and damaging actions, so that those still serving find strength knowing that their service is not in vain," a statement from Beech Grove police chief Michael Maurice read in part. Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@ This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana executes Beech Grove officer William Toney's killer
