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Entries tagged with “Benjamin Ritchie”

Executions

Botched Executions

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Oct 08, 2025

Upcoming Executions Illustrate Persistent Themes and Concerns Around the Death Penalty

Beginning October 10th, and then over the next eight days, six peo­ple are sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion in six dif­fer­ent states. Already this year, there have been 34 exe­cu­tions in nine states. While the con­cen­tra­tion of so many exe­cu­tions in such a short peri­od will cer­tain­ly attract atten­tion, the num­ber is not the head­line. These cas­es high­light impor­tant issues that are true when­ev­er and wher­ev­er there are exe­cu­tions. First, even at this late…

Jun 16, 2025

Governor Says Indiana Will Not Purchase More Lethal Injection Drugs, Invites Debate over Death Penalty

According to Governor Mike Braun (pic­tured), Indiana has deplet­ed the sup­ply of pen­to­bar­bi­tal it uses in its lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions. Given that the last of the dos­es pur­chased in December 2024 expired and went unused, Gov. Braun does not intend to renew the state’s sup­ply. According to ear­li­er report­ing by the *Indiana Capital Chronicle*, the Indiana Department of Correction (IDC) spent $900,000 on pen­to­bar­bi­tal in late 2024 in prepa­ra­tion for the execution of…

Botched Executions

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May 22, 2025

“Violent” Movements During Indiana Execution Raise Unanswered Questions

Benjamin Ritchie’s exe­cu­tion in Indiana on May 20, 2025, has raised new con­cerns about the use of pen­to­bar­bi­tal after defense coun­sel report­ed their client dis­played an unusu­al phys­i­cal reac­tion after being inject­ed with the drug. But because Indiana offi­cials bar media wit­ness­es from observ­ing exe­cu­tions, the pub­lic has no inde­pen­dent wit­ness reports on what tran­spired. Steve Schutte, an attor­ney for Mr. Ritchie, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that Mr. Ritchie…