Weisheit’s execution by lethal injection is set for Nov. 5
The Indiana parole board unanimously recommended Wednesday that Gov. Mike Braun deny Jeffrey Weisheit’s request for clemency, leaving the death sentence for the 2010 house-fire murders of 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch in place. Weisheit’s execution is set for Nov. 5 by lethal injection.
In a letter to the governor, parole board chairperson Gwendolyn Horth wrote: “We unanimously recommend that you deny Jeffrey Weisheit’s request.” Under Indiana law, Weisheit may seek clemency and ask for a life sentence in place of his murder and arson convictions, and the decision on whether a reprieve or commutation is granted belongs to Braun.
The board heard two days of testimony from Weisheit, his lawyers, the children’s parents and first responders who were at an Evansville home in 2010, where the bodies of Alyssa and Caleb were recovered from the ruins of the fire. Testimony before the board described Alyssa’s body in a closet and Caleb’s body on a mattress, restrained with duct tape, with a railroad flare in his underwear and another under his body. Weisheit was convicted of murder and arson in 2013 in the deaths of the two children.
Lisa Lynch was in a relationship with Weisheit when the fire was set in 2010 while she was at work. Tyler Banks, a lawyer with the Indiana attorney general’s office, told the board that Weisheit had been looking at an engagement ring before the fire, but that the relationship with Lynch was breaking down. Banks said Weisheit quit his job, withdrew money from the bank and canceled the ring order, telling the jeweler that he would soon leave the country.
Lisa Lynch addressed the board by video. “Clemency is meant for those who show genuine remorse and hold true value for human life,” she said. “Nothing about the murder of my children showed mercy, humanity or remorse.” The children’s father, Steven Lynch, said he would accept a life sentence.
Weisheit, 50, told the board on Oct. 16: “There is no excuse or explanation for what I did,” adding that he wants to live and improve the lives of other people in prison.
Weisheit’s lawyer, Joseph Perkovich, acknowledged the “unspeakable” crimes when he spoke to the board on Oct. 19 and argued that Weisheit’s history of head injuries and mental health problems did not receive enough attention at his 2013 trial. In its recommendation against clemency, the parole board said it considered information about Weisheit’s mental health but found it “does not greatly distinguish his situation from a vast majority of incarcerated individuals.”
Perkovich said Wednesday that the governor is considering a request to have Weisheit transported from prison for brain scans. He said: “We remain grateful for the governor’s deliberative approach to the exercise of his constitutional responsibility and unfettered authority to determine whether a reprieve or commutation should be granted here.”
Two matters remain unsettled ahead of the Nov. 5 date: whether Braun will grant clemency or allow the sentence to stand, and whether the requested brain scans will take place. The board’s unanimous recommendation is not the decision. Braun’s is.