The state of Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit early Thursday at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City for the 2010 murders of two Evansville children.
Prison officials said the process began shortly after midnight and Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. Officials said he had no final words.
Weisheit was convicted in 2013 in the deaths of Alyssa Lynch, 8, and her brother Caleb Lynch, 5, who were killed in a fire set at their Evansville home in 2010. He had been on death row since his conviction.
Gov. Mike Braun said in a statement that the case had been reviewed numerous times by state and federal courts, including the Indiana Supreme Court, without the sentence being overturned, and that the State Parole Board had unanimously recommended denying clemency. Attorney General Todd Rokita also issued a statement saying the execution affirmed accountability under Indiana law.
Weisheit's attorneys made last-minute efforts to delay the execution, including raising questions about the source of the state's lethal injection drugs. A final emergency motion was denied by the court before the execution went forward.
