Execution of death sentences in Indiana and Texas

The execution of death sentences in various U.S. states has continued this year.

According to CNN, on Tuesday, local time, Indiana carried out its second death sentence of 2025 for Benjamin Ritchie.

The execution was performed by lethal injection at a prison in Michigan City.

Ritchie’s execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal, eliminating all legal options to overturn his death sentence.

Ritchie’s lawyers stated that he suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and severe brain damage due to his mother’s addiction to alcohol and drug abuse; doctors diagnosed him with bipolar disorder in 2005.

Advocacy groups for disability rights argued that Ritchie’s brain damage should have been considered as a reason to commute his death sentence.

Indiana resumed executions in December 2024 after a pause due to a shortage of drugs needed for lethal injections.

According to USA Today, Texas also executed Matthew Johnson by lethal injection on Tuesday, local time.

This was the fourth execution carried out in Texas this year.

The executions of Johnson and Ritchie brought the total number of executions in the U.S. in 2025 to 18, with at least nine more executions scheduled before the end of the year.

The number of executions expected to take place in the remaining months of 2025 in the U.S. is anticipated to increase.

The next scheduled execution in the U.S. is set for Thursday, May 22, when 35-year-old Oscar Smith will be executed by lethal injection in Tennessee.