In the second execution in 15 years, an Indiana man convicted of killing a police officer in 2000 is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection early Tuesday. After being found guilty of shooting Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney to death during a foot pursuit, 45-year-old Benjamin Ritchie has been on death row for more than 20 years.
According to state officials, Ritchie will be put to death “before the hour of sunrise” in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, barring last-minute judicial action. After a lapse of several years owing to the worldwide shortage of lethal injection medicines, Indiana resumed executions in December.
Prior to Joseph Corcoran’s death, prison officials released images of the execution chamber, which resemble a simple operating room with a gurney, fluorescent lighting, a floor drain, and a viewing room next to it. The time the executions occur is one of the few additional information they have provided about the procedure.
Indiana is one of two states that prohibit media witnesses out of 27 that have death penalty legislation. In the past 50 years, Wyoming, the other, has carried out one execution. A federal lawsuit demanding media access has been filed in Indiana by the Associated Press and other media organizations. Twelve executions are planned in eight states this year, including the one in Indiana on Tuesday. This week, Ritchie will be executed together with two others in Texas and Tennessee.
When Ritchie and others stole a van in Beech Grove, close to Indianapolis, he was 20 years old. Then, during a foot chase, he killed Toney with four rounds. Ritchie was on probation at the time due to a burglary conviction from 1998.
For two years, 31-year-old Toney had been employed at the Beech Grove Police Department. Out of the approximately thirty officers in the police department, he was the first to be shot and murdered while performing his duties. The married father of two, who was a neighbor who came to aid others, was mourned by the 14,000 residents of the village.
Later in the day, the Indiana Public Defenders filed this reply to the prosecution’s opposition brief on behalf of Mr. Ritchie. https://t.co/AZYekERBHf #BenjaminRitchie #deathpenalty pic.twitter.com/5TPV10Mu3E
— Robert Dunham (@RDunhamDP) May 18, 2025
When Toney died, “Everyone of us involved, including Bill, had something stolen from them that they’ll never get back,” said Deputy Police Chief Tom Hurrle, who worked with him. During last week’s clemency hearing, relatives spoke and urged that the execution proceed. “It’s time. We’re all tired,” said Dee Dee Horen, who was Toney’s wife.
“It is time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It’s time for us to remember Bill, to remember Bill’s life, and not his death.” Ritchie’s lawyers have contested the death penalty verdict, claiming that his trial counsel was incompetent due to their failure to thoroughly investigate and provide information regarding his childhood lead exposure and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
EXECUTION ALERT –
Stop Execution of #BenjaminRitchie (See my Twitter)
Contact Governor Braun.
317-232-4567https://t.co/dy8c7xmCs7
Petition ( Sign/Share) AND Talking points : https://t.co/dEKHs0rnWL
Execution : May 20, 2025@GovBraun pic.twitter.com/DB0Zvrf615
— Attika Ghalem (@Attika_t) May 14, 2025
Ritchie has battled with decision-making and suffered “severe brain damage” as a result of his mother’s narcotics and alcohol misuse during pregnancy, according to current defense lawyers. In 2005, he was also given a bipolar disorder diagnosis. He has at last developed some coping mechanisms. “He’s a different man,” defense lawyer Steven Schutte remarked.
Ritchie’s request for clemency was denied by Republican Governor Mike Braun last week, despite the parole board’s recommendation. Board members stated that Ritchie’s case did not meet the bar for commuting a sentence and listed a dozen infractions during Ritchie’s incarceration, including threatening others with violence. Braun did not provide an explanation for his decision.
A federal judge has rejected the news outlets request for a preliminary injunction. This means that if Benjamin Ritchie does not add members of the press to his witness list like Joseph Corcoran did, the press will not witness his execution.https://t.co/3Hruguv1J1
— Chris Harger (@mastasnake176) May 17, 2025
“I wish I could go back to the day in court, because that man’s wife deserved to say everything she needed to say to me, and that punk kid should have just kept his mouth shut and let her say whatever she needed to say,” Ritchie said. “That was her right. That was his family’s right.” Friends and relatives have been paying Ritchie visits in his final days.
Attorneys and friends will be among the five witnesses permitted by state law to witness his execution. “I’ve ruined my life and other people’s lives, and I’m so sorry for that night,” he told the parole board earlier this month. “You can’t take back what you did.”
