Man who killed 2 children seeks pause on executions, citing botched Tennessee case

The attorneys of an Indiana death row inmate who is set to be executed next month are asking Gov. Mike Braun to pause all executions in the state after a recent botched lethal injection in Tennessee.

Jeffrey Weisheit's legal team is calling for a transparent and thorough examination of Indiana's execution protocols and procedures, as well as of the source and adequacy of its lethal injection drugs. Joseph Perkovitch, one of Weisheit's attorneys, cited similarities between how Indiana and Tennessee carry out executions and keep information about them secret, such as the source of the drugs used.

Perkovitch said there are "glaring" and "unmistakable" questions regarding the drugs used to execute Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike, who survived two doses of pentobarbital, the same drug used in Indiana. The two states share the same drug supplier, Perkovitch said, and while Tennessee shields significant information from disclosure, Indiana "is worse."

Indiana, for example, is one of just two states that don't allow members of the media to witness executions.

"We want to underscore today that the problems in executions in Tennessee present very serious questions for the procedures and practices in Indiana," Perkovitch told reporters Oct. 19, citing Gov. Bill Lee's decision to temporarily halt capital punishment. "And as the Tennessee governor has done in pausing executions to permit examination of those procedures and practices, (Braun) should consider a reprieve and to put on pause further executions until that assessment can be made."

Weisheit was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2010 murders of two young children, 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb. The children were burned alive in their home in Evansville. By the time first responders arrived, the home was fully engulfed in fire.

First responders found Alyssa's body in a closet, where she likely hid after Weisheit set the house on fire. Caleb was in his bed. Weisheit bound the boy's hands with duct tape and stuffed his mouth with a piece of cloth.

During a clemency hearing on Oct. 19, the children's mother, Lisa Lynch, urged the Indiana Parole Board to deny Weisheit's request for clemency. Her testimony was echoed by several law enforcement officials, all of whom struggled to maintain their composure as they recounted the horrific deaths.

"The jury sat in that courtroom, heard every piece of evidence, saw the absolute horror of what was done to my children," Lynch said, sobbing as she read a prepared statement before the board. The guilty verdict has survived appeals, Lynch said, "because the truth of what happened to my children has never changed."

The board will issue a recommendation to Braun, who will make the final decision on clemency.

Perkovitch, one of Weisheit's attorneys, said they plan to submit a reprieve application to Braun on Oct. 27. Because of Tennessee's failure to execute Pike, he said there should be a thorough examination of the training and qualifications of the members of the execution team in Indiana and of how the state procures its lethal injection drugs.

In an earlier statement shortly after the failed lethal injection in Tennessee in September, Noelle Russell, chief communications officer for the Indiana Department of Correction, said state officials are "confident" in their ability to carry out executions. Russell also said the state has purchased the drugs that will be used to execute Weisheit.

Weisheit's attorney raises questions about 'blameworthiness'

Indiana has executed three people since 2024, when the state resumed capital punishment after a 15-year hiatus. Joseph Corcoran was executed in December 2024, Benjamin Ritchie in May 2025, and Roy Lee Ward in October 2025.

Weisheit, who was Lynch's boyfriend at the time of the murders, is one of five remaining men on Indiana's death row. He is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 5.

His attorneys have asked the Indiana Supreme Court to push back the execution date to allow him to undergo brain scans. Attorneys hope the scans would provide a fuller picture of the extent of Weisheit's mental health conditions, which included bipolar disorder, and how they affected his actions more than two decades ago.

Perkovitch argued that severe mental illness, compounded by traumatic brain injuries, raise doubts about Weisheit's "blameworthiness." He added that the jury that convicted Weisheit in 2013 did not know the full extent of his mental illness because the evidence that was presented was "superficial."

During the clemency hearing, Perkovitch cited the findings of a clinical and forensic neurologist who found that Weisheit's mental state has "severely decompensated" in recent years and that he believed there was an elaborate scheme between correctional officers and fellow inmates to kill him.

"The ultimate punishment is reserved for the most blameworthy in our society," Perkovitch later told reporters. "And the question for a capital jury is, 'When you look at this awful set of facts and this horrific event, do I assign him as the worst of the worst? And you can only answer that question if you really understand who it is, who's the defendant in that context … That's why we urge the governor to have the benefit of a complex understanding of who this man is."

Weisheit's relatives, who asked the board to spare him from the death penalty, described him as a recluse who often seemed depressed as a child. They recounted his suicide attempts when he was younger. They said Weisheit loved Lynch's children, and they still could not believe that the man they knew was capable of such violence.

"I couldn't bare it," his mother, Susan Weisheit, said when asked how her son's death could impact her.

Law enforcement officials push for execution

But law enforcement officials, including some of the first responders on the case, said there's no complexity that needed to be understood about Weisheit's actions and motives.

Weisheit, they testified, killed the children to get back at their mother by setting her 5-year-old son on fire and allowing her daughter to suffocate.

Randy Chapman, a retired Vanderbugh County Sheriff's Office detective, described Weisheit as a "sociopath, evil person" who chose not to kill Lynch because she was pregnant with his own child but decided to, instead, kill her children.

"That's the type of person Jeff Weisheit is," Chapman told the board, adding that lethal injection is a merciful end. "He's going to fall asleep, not like Caleb and Alyssa. They suffered."

Kerri Blessinger, also a former detective for the Vanderbugh County Sheriff's Office, said Weisheit's mental health struggles are simply an "easy explanation" to justify his crimes.

In an affidavit, the children's father, Steven Lynch, asked the board to spare Weisheit.

"Hurting Mr. Weisheit's family by executing him is not the outcome my children would want," Steven Lynch wrote, adding later: "Jeffrey, I forgive you."

But Blessinger said forgiveness and punishment "don't go hand in hand."

"The state of Indiana says the ultimate form of punishment is death for Jeffrey Weisheit's barbaric actions," she testified. "Regardless of whether he was forgiven or not, the punishment must fit the crime."

Tyler Banks, a deputy attorney general who leads litigation of capital cases, said Weisheit's mental health issues have been "front and center" in his appeals and his death sentence has withstood more than a decade of challenge.

"This issue has been thoroughly litigated," Banks told the board, adding later: "Jeffrey Weisheit murdered two children by burning them alive."

Contact IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026 or at [email protected].