Indiana's governor turned down a clemency request Monday and said an execution planned for this week would go forward for a man who set a fire that killed his girlfriend's two children in 2010.
Gov. Mike Braun said he would follow the Indiana Parole Board's recommendation to let the death sentence stand for Jeffrey Weisheit.
“The Indiana Department of Correction will continue preparations to carry out the court-ordered sentence of execution” Thursday, said Braun, a Republican.
Weisheit, 50, had a right under Indiana law to ask Braun to reduce the death sentence to a life sentence for his murder and arson convictions.
Weisheit acknowledged his crimes during an Oct. 16 public hearing but said he wanted to live and improve the lives of other people in prison.
The remains of 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch were recovered from the ruins of a fire at their home in the Evansville area.
Alyssa’s body was in a closet. Caleb’s body was on a mattress, restrained with duct tape. A railroad flare was in his underwear and another was under his body.
The children’s mother, Lisa Lynch, was at work at the time. She was in a relationship with Weisheit but it was breaking down, investigators said.
Weisheit's lawyers say he has a history of head injuries and mental health problems that didn’t get enough attention at his 2013 trial. Separately, his legal team has asked the governor to delay the execution and review how the state acquires drugs for lethal injections.
The lawyers said Indiana purchased pentobarbital from a pharmacy that is under scrutiny by the state attorney general. They also cited the recent failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, and Gov. Bill Lee's decision there to review what happened during the attempted lethal injection.
But Braun spokesperson Griffin Reid said the “process is over.”
“We remain confident in our process and our ability to humanely carry out the lawfully imposed sentence for the murders of two innocent children," the Indiana Department of Correction said.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the last name of governor’s spokesperson to Reid, not Reed.
