Jeffrey Weisheit, convicted of setting a house fire that killed two children, was executed by lethal injection on November 5 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. His final meal was barbecue ribs. He was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. and had no final words, according to Noelle Russell, Indiana Department of Correction chief communications officer.
Crime and Conviction
Weisheit was convicted of setting a fire that killed his girlfriend's two children, Alyssa Lynch, 8, and Caleb Lynch, 5. The crime took place in 2010. An autopsy from the coroner's office found the children died of smoke inhalation, meaning they were alive when the fire was set.
Lawyers had asked Republican Gov. Mike Braun to allow Weisheit, 50, to undergo brain scans to reinforce their argument that he has a history of head injuries and mental health problems. Braun declined, and also turned down a request to reduce the sentence to life in prison.
Legal Challenges and Other Executions
Weisheit's latest objection centred on the state's planned use of lethal drugs purchased from a pharmacy facing a disciplinary hearing next week at the Indiana Pharmacy Board. The Indiana Department of Correction said it is confident "in our ability to humanely carry out" the execution.
Florida and Alabama were also set to carry out executions, which would mark the second time this year that three people would be put to death on the same day. The death penalty has faced renewed scrutiny following Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike, although courts have rejected efforts to halt other executions since she survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital last month.
In Florida, Jesse Guardado confessed and quickly pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewellery box, $80 and other valuables to support his drug habit. She had helped him get a job and housing. A federal appeals court in 2024 said that Guardado, now 64, had received a "full and fair" hearing during the death penalty phase of his case.
Michael Taylor, 54, faces execution in Alabama, 35 years after fatally beating an older couple with a metal bar during a robbery in their Gadsden home. Police arrested the 19-year-old Taylor with the victims' Cadillac, an hour away in Birmingham. Death penalty opponents had urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to reduce Taylor's sentence to life in prison, noting his age and immaturity at the time of the killings, but she declined.
Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty said: "If the state kills Michael, it is not the 19-year-old who made the worst mistake of his life who it kills. But the mature, well-respected, God-fearing man sitting in that cell today."
The state plans to execute Taylor by lethal injection after a judge declared a nitrogen gas method unconstitutional. His attorneys objected to the last-minute switch to lethal injection since he selected nitrogen gas as his method several years ago, but a judge ruled against Taylor.
