US death penalty: Indiana denies brain scans ahead of execution
Jeffrey Weisheit is set to be executed on Nov. 5 for killing two children. His defence wants a delay and, after the Tennessee failure, a review of lethal injection. The governor must decide.
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Indiana Gov. Mike Braun's administration will not allow death row prisoner Jeffrey Weisheit additional brain scans before his execution scheduled for Nov. 5. The 50-year-old was sentenced in 2013 for killing two children aged eight and five in a 2010 house fire near Evansville. His attorney Joseph Perkovich argues MRI and PET scans could show whether brain injuries predated the crime, saying jurors decided "without reliable scientific information". The state Supreme Court has already refused a delay, and the Parole Board unanimously recommended denying clemency.
The final decision rests with Braun, who previously said he would consider medical evidence if it became available; there is no set timeline. The defence also wants the state to review its procedures after Christa Pike's failed execution in Tennessee, as both states use pentobarbital. Indiana has spent $275,000 on the drug and says it is confident it can carry out the execution. The victims' family is divided: according to WISH-TV, the mother urged that clemency be denied, while the father asked the governor to spare Weisheit's life.
Indiana is not alone: executions are also scheduled in Florida and Alabama on Nov. 5 alone, with more to follow in Oklahoma, Texas and Florida in November, according to a list kept at Southern Methodist University. Supporters of capital punishment cite justice for victims and their families; opponents point to the risk of errors and problems with lethal injection. In Tennessee, where Colleen Slemmer was killed in 1995, the governor has paused executions until the end of the year.