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Court rejects Indiana man's appeal in arson deaths of 2 kids

Posted November 08, 2018 6:00 am

The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man sentenced to death for setting a 2010 house fire that killed his fiancÃ©e's two children.

The Evansville Courier & Press reports all five justices agreed in Wednesday's decision that Jeffrey Weisheit was guilty of crimes that Chief Justice Loretta Rush described as "unequivocally horrific" and "disturbingly reprehensible." The court also upheld the death sentence for him.

In an opinion that partially dissented, however, Rush said she thought Weisheit deserved a new penalty phase.

Weisheit was convicted in 2013 of murder and arson in the deaths of 5-year-old Caleb Lynch and 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch at the family's Evansville-area home. Weisheit contends he wasn't adequately represented by his trial attorneys. Lawyers for the state argued that Weisheit's attorneys were highly qualified.

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com

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