INDIANAPOLIS — On Friday, several groups will deliver thousands of petitions urging Governor Mike Braun to spare Benjamin Ritchie, who is scheduled for execution on May 20th for the murder of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney in 2000.
Members of the Indiana Abolition Coalition, Death Penalty Action, and various faith leaders will gather at 11 a.m. in the Indiana State Capitol Building.
“Benjamin Ritchie can be held accountable and severely punished without executing him,” stated Abraham Bonowitz, Executive Director of Death Penalty Action. “Governor Braun has until Monday night at midnight to change his mind. We urge him to show mercy by commuting Ritchie’s death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”…