Jeffrey Weisheit, who murdered his girlfriend's two young children by tying them up and setting their home on fire in 2010, was executed by lethal injection early Thursday in Indiana. He was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. local time at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
Weisheit, 50, killed eight-year-old Alyssa Lynch and five-year-old Caleb Lynch by setting fire to his partner's house in Evansville, Indiana. Caleb's body was found on a mattress, restrained with duct tape, with a railroad flare in his underwear and another beneath him. Alyssa's body was discovered in a closet. Their mother was at work at the time of the killings.
Noelle Russell, chief communications officer for the Indiana Department of Correction, confirmed Weisheit's execution. His final meal consisted of barbecue ribs, and he offered no final words.
Indiana Governor Mike Braun declined requests to allow Weisheit to undergo brain scans, which his lawyers had sought to support claims of head injuries and mental health issues. The governor also denied a request to commute his sentence to life in prison. Weisheit's legal team also raised objections regarding the source of the lethal drugs, which were purchased from a pharmacy facing a disciplinary hearing. The Department of Correction stated it was confident in its ability to carry out the execution humanely.
Following the execution, Governor Braun stated that Weisheit's case had been reviewed multiple times by state and federal courts, with no sentence overturn. "Today, Weisheit's sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court," he said.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita described the execution as "long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty."
Weisheit's execution was one of three planned in the U.S. for Thursday. In Florida, Jesse Guardado was set to be executed for the 2004 fatal stabbing of a 75-year-old woman. Michael Taylor was also scheduled for execution in Alabama for fatally beating an older couple during a robbery 35 years prior.
Florida has carried out more than half of the 32 executions in the U.S. this year. Governor Ron DeSantis has stated his goal is to bring justice to families who have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.
Death penalty opponents had urged Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to reduce Taylor's sentence, citing his age and immaturity at the time of the killings. The state planned to execute Taylor by lethal injection after a judge ruled a proposed nitrogen gas method unconstitutional, a last-minute change his attorneys objected to.
The death penalty has faced increased scrutiny, particularly after a failed execution in Tennessee in September. Courts, however, have largely rejected challenges to other executions since then.