Indiana part of America's uptick in executions
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Indiana is preparing for its fourth execution in less than two years, adding to a post-COVID surge in capital punishment that drove more executions last year than any since 2009.
The big picture: The Trump administration has overtly cheered on the death penalty even as fewer courts sentence defendants to death and more than half of states have banned or at least temporarily halted the practice.
By the numbers: Nationally, 47 people were executed last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center's database, which dates back to 1977.
- 2026 is falling behind that pace. Twenty-four people have been executed this year, with more than a dozen executions still scheduled.
Zoom in: In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit is scheduled to be executed Nov. 5 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
Catch up quick: Weisheit was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing his girlfriend's children, 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch, in a 2010 fire at their Evansville home.
- The Indiana Supreme Court issued an order Aug. 28 clearing the way for his execution next month.
- Weisheit's attorneys filed a clemency petition Sept. 15, arguing that mitigating evidence about his lifelong impairments, brain injuries and childhood trauma was not adequately presented during his court proceedings.
- Gov. Mike Braun denied clemency to Benjamin Ritchie and Roy Lee Ward before their executions in 2025.
Flashback: The state Supreme Court upheld Weisheit's death sentence in 2018, but Chief Justice Loretta Rush dissented, concluding that ineffective legal representation warranted a new sentencing proceeding.
State of play: While there has not been a federal execution since Dustin Higgs was put to death at the federal prison in Terre Haute on Jan. 16, 2021, President Trump signed a Day 1 executive order instructing his attorney general to pursue the death penalty and ensure states have a sufficient supply of drugs for lethal injections.
- His approach was a sharp departure from that of the Biden administration, which imposed a moratorium on federal capital punishment amid a U.S. Department of Justice review and commuted the sentences for 37 of the 40 people on federal death row.
Yes, but: The Death Penalty Information Center data doesn't point to a wave of executions that could rival 1990s or 2000s levels. Fewer than 25 people were sentenced to death in 2025, per DPI's tracker, compared with numbers well into the 100s in the 2000s.
- That aligns with slipping public support for the death penalty, per Gallup's trend, which hit its lowest level since 1972 (52%) last year.
- But Pew Research Center polling from July found that about two-thirds of Americans (66%) favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, up from 60% in April 2021. Still, a majority (59%) say the death penalty is not a crime deterrent.
What's next: The Indiana Parole Board has scheduled Weisheit's clemency proceedings for Oct. 16 and 19.
- The first hearing will be virtual, followed by public testimony in Indianapolis. The board is expected to make a recommendation after the hearings, with Braun having the final say.