INDIANAPOLIS — Attorney General Todd Rokita is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to set an execution date for a man who fatally shot a Beech Grove police officer 24 years ago.
Rokita filed a formal motion Friday asking the Supreme Court to set a date for the execution of Benjamin Ritchie.
According to the motion, Ritchie and two other stole a van from a gas station and started a pursuit on Sept. 29, 2000. Court documents say the van was eventually stopped in the yard of a home, where Ritchie and the others left the van and ran in opposite directions. Officer William Toney pursued Ritchie, and Ritchie fired four shots at the officer — killing him.
“Most Hoosiers and I expect justice without delay, especially when someone murders a police officer, one of the many, many brave men and women we thank and respect daily," Rokita said. “This convicted cop killer has been on death row far too long — 22 years — and it's past time for him to pay his debt to society.”
Documents say Ritchie was convicted of murder and the jury "unanimously" recommended a death sentence, which the trial imposed on Oct. 15, 2002.
Rokita said Indiana has paused executions for several years due to the Indiana Department of Correction’s difficulty obtaining the drug pentobarbital, which is used to carry out executions. That issue has now been resolved.
The last time Indiana executed a prisoner was Daniel Lewis Lee in 2020. Ritchie is one of eight men on Indiana's death row.
Here's the full motion filed by Rokita:
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On June 26, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced that he and Rokita wanted to resume executions in state prisons, starting with convicted murderer Joseph Corcoran.
Corcoran was found guilty of the 1997 murders of four people in Fort Wayne: his brother, James Corcoran; along with Douglas Stillwell; Robert Scott Turner; and Timothy G. Bricker. He allegedly killed the men with a semiautomatic rifle in the living room of the home he shared with his brother and sister because he couldn’t stand to hear them talking about him.
Corcoran suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
In 2016, officials said Corcoran exhausted his appeals and has been awaiting execution.
On Sept 11, the Supreme Court set Corcoran's execution date for Dec. 18.
