In Indiana, a man was executed for the murder of a police officer in 2000, according to the prison department, marking one of three executions scheduled in the United States this week.
Benjamin Ritchie, 45, was executed by lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was sentenced for the murder of Officer Bill Toney, making this the second execution in the Midwestern state since 2009.
Officer Toney, a father of two, was fatally shot while pursuing a van that Ritchie and another man had stolen from a petrol station in Beech Grove.
According to a statement from the Indiana Department of Correction, Ritchie was pronounced dead at 12:46 AM (5:46 AM Irish time) this morning, approximately 45 minutes after the execution process began.
Meanwhile, Matthew Johnson, 49, is scheduled to face lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary for the 2012 murder of Nancy Harris, a 76-year-old grandmother.
During the trial, Johnson confessed to pouring lighter fluid on Ms. Harris and igniting her during an early morning robbery at a shop in Garland, Texas.
Ms. Harris suffered extensive burns and was removed from life support five days later.
The third execution planned for this week is in Tennessee.
Oscar Smith, 75, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday for the 1989 shooting and stabbing murders of his estranged wife, Judy Smith, and her two sons, Chad and Jason Burnett.
This year, there have been 17 executions in the United States: 13 by lethal injection, two by firing squad, and two using nitrogen gas.
As of now, the death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three states—California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania—have moratoriums in effect.
President Donald Trump supports capital punishment and urged for an expansion of its application “for the vilest crimes” on his first day in office.
