Indiana Supreme Court Denies Stay for Jeffrey Weisheit in 3-2 Vote

The Indiana Supreme Court voted 3-2 late Wednesday to deny an emergency stay for Jeffrey Weisheit, a 50-year-old man scheduled to die by lethal injection shortly after midnight Central time at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, WTHR reported. The ruling was filed at 10:10 p.m. Eastern time.

The ruling

Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff dissented. They wrote that they “would grant a 10-day stay” so the parties could file information on the drug’s formulation, expiration, storage and any testing, along with other procedural questions, according to WTHR.

Weisheit’s lawyers had asked Gov. Mike Braun on Monday to halt the execution and order an independent review of the state’s lethal injection procedures, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. They allege the Department of Correction bought pentobarbital, the execution drug, through Pharmaneek Inc., an Indianapolis pharmacy that is on probation and faces a possible license suspension. The state has not confirmed the supplier. The department told WTHR that state law bars it from disclosing identifying details about drug purchases, but said it bought six 50-milliliter vials of pentobarbital for $275,000 on Sept. 25 and received them Oct. 29.

NBC News reported that commercially made injectable pentobarbital typically costs $15,120 to $16,250. Pharmaneek is due before the Indiana Board of Pharmacy on Monday over alleged probation violations after failed state and federal inspections, NBC News reported.

Background

Weisheit was convicted and sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb, in a 2010 house fire in Evansville. Braun denied clemency on Monday after the Indiana Parole Board unanimously recommended against commuting the sentence. At an October clemency hearing, the children’s father, Steven Lynch, said he had forgiven Weisheit and asked that his sentence be commuted, WTHR reported.

Timing of the lethal injection

If carried out, Weisheit’s execution would be Indiana’s first since Roy Lee Ward was put to death on Oct. 10, 2025, according to WTHR.

Developing: The execution was scheduled for shortly after midnight Central time Thursday; it had not been carried out when this report was published, and the claims about the drug supplier come from Weisheit’s lawyers and have not been confirmed by the state.

Sources: WTHR, NBC News, Indiana Capital Chronicle.