The Justice Department is also reauthorizing the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration — more than under any president in modern history.

An Indiana man convicted in the fatal shooting of a police officer in 2000 was executed Tuesday by lethal injection in the state’s second execution in 15 years.

Benjamin Ritchie, 45, has been on death row for more than 20 years after being convicted in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase. Unless there’s last-minute court action, Ritchie is scheduled to be executed “before the hour of sunrise” at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to state officials.

The single-term Republican leaves behind a complicated history. He spent five years in federal prison after being convicted of racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering and tax fraud for actions during his term as secretary of state. However, while in the governor’s mansion, Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 men on Illinois’ death row in 2003.

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, disgraced by a corruption scandal that landed him in prison yet heralded by some for clearing the state’s death row, has died. He was 91.

President Joe Biden on Monday announced that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.

Joseph Corcoran, 49, has been on death row since 1999, the year he was convicted in the shootings of his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two other men: Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30.

Idaho lawmakers passed a bill this week seeking to add the state to the list of those authorizing firing squads, which currently includes Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Interest comes as states scramble for alternatives to lethal injections after pharmaceutical companies barred the use of their drugs.

Attorneys for the 57-year-old inmate had sought a stay, citing pending litigation in another court challenging the constitutionality of South Carolina’s execution methods, which also include the electric chair. 

The sworn accounts by executioners raise questions about whether officials misled courts to ensure the executions scheduled from July to mid-January were done before death penalty opponent Joe Biden became president.

As in any criminal case, after a defendant is found guilty, the court moves on to sentencing. But things operate differently when the defendant faces a possible death sentence.

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday used an unconventional method to announce a sweeping public safety plan that includes reinstating the death penalty in Illinois.