He Killed an Officer Who Was Just Filling In — Now He Faces Execution and Says It's Wrong Because of How He Was Born

An Indiana inmate who was convicted of killing a police officer two decades ago is set to be executed on Tuesday, May 20.

Benjamin Ritchie, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison before sunrise unless he receives a last-minute court reprieve, according to the Associated Press. 

He has been on death row for more than 20 years for the 2000 fatal shooting of 31-year-old Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney.

Ritchie would be the second inmate executed in Indiana in 15 years, per the AP.

“Officer William Toney lost his life 25 years ago serving the community he lived in,” the Beech Grove Police Department wrote in a statement on Monday, May 19, per WTHR. “Taking a solemn oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of this great state, that its citizens may lead a peaceful life. His life was violently taken from him by an individual whose actions adversely affected the innocent and ripped at the very fabric that holds society together. While there is no peace in the execution, there is comfort in the realization that society has kept its promise to the men and women of law enforcement to hold those accountable for their reckless choices and damaging actions, so that those still serving find strength knowing that their service is not in vain.” 

The Indiana Parole Board denied Ritchie’s clemency plea on May 14 to have his sentence commuted to life without parole, WISH-TV reported. The same day, Governor Mike Braun approved the execution.

“After carefully reviewing the unanimous recommendation from the State Parole Board, I have decided to allow the execution of Benjamin Ritchie to proceed as planned for May 20,” Braun said in a statement.

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“It’s time. We’re all tired,” Toney’s widow said at the clemency hearing, per the AP. “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.”

According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Toney wasn’t scheduled to work the evening of Sept. 29, but was helping a fellow officer who was leaving early on vacation. Ritchie, who was on probation at the time for a burglary conviction, shot Toney during a foot chase after he stole a van from a gas station in Beech Grove, the Capital Chronicle reported.

Ritchie’s attorneys have argued that he suffered from brain damage due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, per Fox59.

“I’ve ruined my life and other people’s lives, and I’m so sorry for that night,” he told the parole board, the AP reported. “You can’t take back what you did.”

Ritchie’s attorneys have filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, according to the AP.