Toney’s widow gave said emotional testimony Monday
Family of Deceased Beech Grove Officer Pleads for His Killer to be Executed
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The family of fallen Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney called for justice and the full execution of Benjamin Ritchie’s death sentence during his final clemency hearing on Monday.
Toney’s widow, Dee Dee Toney Horen, said during an emotional testimony to the Indiana Parole Board at the Indiana Government Center, “It is time. It’s time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It’s time to remember Bill’s life, not his death. It is time.”
Ritchie is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 20. He did not attend the downtown Indianapolis hearing after speaking on his own behalf during a May 5 hearing at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
Ritchie’s attorneys argue brain damage from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is what caused his criminal behavior in 2000, when Ritchie stole a van, ran from police, then shot and killed Toney.
The Parole Board heard more than four hours of testimony in Monday’s hearing as it considered whether to recommend clemency.
Monday’s hearing started with Ritchie’s defense calling his former special ed teacher, John Mast. He detailed the trouble that young Ritchie had handling stressful situations, saying Ritchie would often act emotional, erratic, and sometimes violent.
“He did not have the emotional tools,” Mast said.
A board-certified psychologist speaking for the defense, Megan Carter, said Ritchie had physical signs and cognitive defects attributable to FASD. She said that “brain damage from prenatal alcohol exposure, present and noticeable throughout his life, resulted in lifelong significant problems with higher-level cognitive abilities.”
She described any form of FASD as a form of brain damage, which left Ritchie with “primitive thinking” in some situations.
Tyler Banks, representing the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, said even though the specific diagnosis being argued now wasn’t brought up at Ritchie’s trail, his mother’s drinking and the possible health effects were.
More than a dozen Beech Grove Police Department officers filled the back row of the auditorium inside the Indiana Government Center, watching the preceding. Toney’s family sat in front. Many of Toney’s family members, including his sister, brother-in-law, and mother, Jo Ann Toney, spoke in favor of execution.
“I feel I am at Bill’s funeral all over again,” Jo Ann said while struggling to stop from weeping.
Outside the government building, disability advocacy groups Arc of Indiana and Indiana Disability Rights joined activists calling for clemency, saying Ritchie’s brain damage needs to be considered. Attorney Sam Adams Sr. with Indiana Disability Rights said “The board and the governor should look at Mr. Ritchie’s case and ask why should the death penalty be given here.”
The Indiana Parole Board will make a nonbinding recommendation whether to grant clemency, but it will be the sole decision of Republican Gov. Mike Braun whether it’s granted.
There’s no set timeline on when any recommendation will be made.
News 8 has reached out to the governor’s office multiple times, but he has not said how he’s leaning on clemency.
Ritchie’s defense is also petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution, hoping to eventually change the sentence to life in prison.