Death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie has filed a new lawsuit against leaders of the Indiana State Prison, demanding it allows him to have a spiritual adviser present during his execution.
According to the filing, Ritchie “seeks to have his spiritual advisor in the execution chamber with him leading up to and at the time of his execution to pray with Mr. Ritchie, take confession, administer Holy Communion, and lay hands on him.”
Ritchie is scheduled to die by lethal injection before sunrise May 20. Spiritual advisers have to leave the execution chamber by 10 p.m. the previous evening, the filing states.
He’s also seeking a stay of execution, pending the lawsuit.
Ritchie was first convicted in 2002 for shooting and killing Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney in 2000. This week, Republican Gov. Mike Braun announced he would follow the Indiana Parole Board’s recommendation to deny Ritchie’s request for clemency.
His last chance to avoid the death penalty is likely the U.S. Supreme Court, which Ritchie petitioned to stay his execution.
If the long-shot case is successful — the Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions each year, while only hearing oral arguments in about 80 — Ritchie’s case could ultimately change Indiana law.
“The law is on our side, we truly believe that,” Deputy Public Defender Mark Koselke told News 8 in a recent interview.
Ritchie’s representation has argued his trial counsel was ineffective because they failed to investigate the full impacts of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, known in the medical field as FASD, on his criminal behavior.
The state disagrees, pointing out his mother’s drinking during her pregnancy was discussed during the initial trial more than 20 years ago.
Tyler Banks of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office said in a recent clemency hearing, “His trial counsel could not have been ineffective for failing to present a diagnosis that did not exist at the time.”
The Supreme Court case isn’t evaluating whether Ritchie had brain damage from FASD or if he had effective counsel, but rather that Indiana’s current evaluation for ineffective counsel does not meet federal standards.
“Federally, they actually have to check the performance of the attorney. They have to check if there was some mistake made,” Koselke said. “But at our level in the Indiana courts, they’re just checking if someone was in the courtroom with the defendant.”
If the Supreme Court stays the execution, there would need to be an evidentiary hearing. That would at least delay but not necessarily stop Ritchie’s execution.
If the execution happens as scheduled, Ritchie will be the second inmate Indiana has executed in 15 years following Joseph Corcoran’s execution in December.
