Indiana parole board schedules clemency hearings ahead of Weisheit execution

Jeffrey Weisheit’s bid to avoid execution is headed to the Indiana Parole Board, which has scheduled October hearings on his request to avoid the death sentence imposed for killing two children in 2010.

The Indiana Parole Board received the application and issued a hearing notice Tuesday, less than two months before Weisheit’s scheduled Nov. 5 execution.

Weisheit, convicted in the 2010 murders of siblings Alyssa and Caleb Lynch, is seeking commutation — a reduction of his sentence. The board will make a recommendation to Gov. Mike Braun, who has the final say.

A prison hearing is slated for Friday, Oct. 16, at 10:30 a.m. Central, or 11:30 a.m. Eastern, at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. That hearing gives Weisheit an opportunity to speak directly with parole board members and answer their questions as they consider his request for a reduced sentence.

Indiana high court orders Jeffrey Weisheit executed Nov. 5

The board will hear public testimony Oct. 19 in Indiana Government Center conference rooms 1 and 2 in Indianapolis. Those supporting clemency will have an opportunity to make their case from 9 to 11 a.m., followed by testimony from those opposing the request from 1 to 3 p.m. The hearings will help inform the board’s recommendation to the governor.

In the application, signed Sept. 15, Weisheit contends that evidence relevant to his punishment was not fully presented during his court proceedings.

“Mr. Weisheit’s lifelong mental impairments including congenital dysfunctions and the effect of multiple brain traumas suffered throughout his life, beginning early in his childhood, and their mitigating effect on the crime were never adequately presented to the courts,” the petition states.

It also asserts that evidence of childhood psychological trauma was not presented and that the COVID-19 pandemic blocked investigation and presentation of such evidence in federal court.

Weisheit was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 8-year-old Alyssa and 5-year-old Caleb, his girlfriend’s children, in a fire at their Evansville home. He was also convicted of arson.

The Indiana Supreme Court ordered his execution Aug. 28. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection before sunrise at the Michigan City prison.

Although the court upheld his death sentence during a 2018 post-conviction appeal, Chief Justice Loretta Rush dissented on that issue, concluding that ineffective legal representation warranted a new sentencing proceeding.

Braun denied clemency to Benjamin Ritchie and Roy Lee Ward before their executions in 2025. Weisheit’s would be Indiana’s fourth execution since the state ended a 15-year pause in December 2024.