The legal clock is ticking again for Jeffrey Weisheit, the Evansville man sentenced to death for a 2010 house fire that killed two children, as Indiana asks the state’s highest court to finally put an execution date on the calendar.
According to WISH‑TV, Deputy Attorney General Tyler Banks has filed a petition on behalf of Attorney General Todd Rokita asking the Indiana Supreme Court to set Weisheit’s execution within a 30‑ to 45‑day window after the court issues its order. The move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, leaving his death sentence in place.
The Crime and the Conviction
Court records describe how firefighters called to a burning Evansville home on April 10, 2010, later discovered the bodies of 8‑year‑old Alyssa Lynch and 5‑year‑old Caleb Lynch inside. Prosecutors told jurors that Caleb had been bound and gagged and that railroad flares were placed with his body before the house was intentionally set on fire. A jury convicted Weisheit in 2013, and a judge imposed the death penalty, according to an Indiana Supreme Court opinion published on Justia.
Appeals and Legal Rulings
Weisheit’s long-shot federal habeas bid was turned back by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Nov. 2, 2022, in a ruling that rejected most of his arguments while granting a narrow certificate of appealability, according to an order available on Justia. That decision was later upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Aug. 13, 2025, in an opinion also posted on Justia.
Execution Logistics and State Context
The latest filing lands as Indiana has resumed carrying out death sentences after a lengthy lull, with state records and reporting reflecting three executions since 2024. Public records obtained by reporters show the state has spent at least $1.275 million to purchase pentobarbital for its current lethal‑injection protocol, a tab detailed in reporting by the Indiana Capital Chronicle, which has also tracked the broader fight over how those drugs are sourced and how transparent the process should be.
What Happens Next
If the Indiana Supreme Court signs off on the request and picks a date within the 30‑ to 45‑day window, state officials would move to schedule and carry out the execution in line with the court’s directive. Weisheit is currently held on death row at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, the facility that houses the state’s male death‑row population, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Where the Case Stands
More than a decade of litigation in state and federal courts has left Weisheit’s death sentence intact, and the Attorney General’s latest filing puts the matter squarely back before Indiana’s Supreme Court. With his major challenges exhausted, the question now shifts from whether the sentence stands to when, exactly, the state’s machinery of capital punishment will move into action.
