INDIANAPOLIS – The attorney for convicted child killer Jeffrey Weisheit will attempt to convince the Indiana Parole Board that his client should avoid execution during a public clemency hearing on Monday, Oct. 19. 

Weisheit is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Nov. 5 for the 2010 murders of his then-fiance’s children, 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch, in a Vanderburgh County arson. 

“This is a man with severe mental illness and brain damage, and severe crippling remorse,” Weisheit’s attorney Joseph Perkovich said in an exclusive interview with Indiana’s I-Team.  

Following the clemency hearings, the Parole Board will make a recommendation to Gov. Mike Braun on whether to commute Weisheit’s death sentence, but it will ultimately be the governor’s decision. 

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita requested an execution date for Weishiet in June, saying “It is long past time to carry out the sentence.”

Perkovich claims legal technicalities have prevented evidence of Weisheit’s mental condition from being fully considered in court and “scientifically robust evidence and analysis of very substantial brain damage” should prevent the state from putting Weisheit to death. 

“The legal process that has been drawn out has been inadequate,” Perkovich said. 

In the first of two clemency hearings, Weisheit expressed regret for his crimes, but struggled to explain what led him to kill two children. Weisheit had difficulty answering the board’s questions, went on long tangents about grievances with his victims’ mother, and suggested officers may have tampered with evidence. 

When asked why the board should recommend Gov. Mike Braun stop his execution, Weisheit didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know. You don’t have to,” Weisheit said. 

Perkovich said Wesheit’s performance at the first clemency hearing was understandable for “somebody who’s profoundly mentally ill.”

“It gets to the question of can you blame somebody with such severe brain damage combined with mental illness,” Perkovich said. 

The father of Weisheit’s victims, Steven Lynch, has signed an affidavit asking Gov. Braun to grant clemency. The children’s mother, Lisa Lynch, declined to write a similar letter in support. 

“I cannot pretend to suggest what she should feel about this or what position she should take,” Perkovich said. “We are humbled by the fact that Steven Lynch has expressed his views of forgiveness, has requested mercy, and hopes that Mr. Weisheit will continue his journey with God towards forgiveness.”

Weisheit’s second clemency hearing is Monday, Oct. 19, inside the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis, and is open to the public. The Parole Board will hear from speakers for and against clemency.

Perkovich has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to delay Weisheit’s death sentence to allow time to conduct brain scans to shed light on Weisheit’s mental state. That request is still pending, although Braun said he would consider the brain scans if they happen. 

Perkovich is separately asking Gov. Braun to pause lethal injections until the Indiana Department of Correction has reviewed its execution procedures, to prevent a similar situation to Christa Pike’s botched execution in Tennessee.

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