Indiana death row inmate Jeffrey Weisheit is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to delay his Nov. 5 execution by two weeks so specialists can conduct brain scans and analyze whether injuries predated the killings for which he was convicted. In emergency motions filed Monday, Weisheit’s attorneys also asked the court to push back the state clemency schedule. The Indiana Parole Board is scheduled to interview him Friday and hear public testimony Oct. 19. Written clemency materials are due Oct. 15 under the current schedule. The lawyers say magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography scans, followed by expert analysis, could give Gov. Mike Braun more information about Weisheit’s mental health and possible brain injuries when he considers clemency. Braun said he wants the information available for consideration and that the state’s legal team would review it and advise him. The immediate dispute is over transportation. A federal judge approved funding for the testing in September but ruled Oct. 7 that she could not require state prison officials to take Weisheit from Indiana State Prison to an imaging center in Michigan City. The Indiana Department of Correction says it will follow any court order it receives and generally relies on court orders for transportation outside routine operations. Weisheit’s attorneys are asking the Indiana Supreme Court to order transportation within five days and move the clemency deadline to Oct. 29, the public hearing to Nov. 2 and the execution to Nov. 19. They say the imaging center could arrange an appointment with about three days’ notice. The motion also asks that metal restraints not be used in the scanning room because of the equipment’s magnets. Weisheit was convicted in 2013 of killing siblings Alyssa Lynch, 8, and Caleb Lynch, 5, in a fire at their Evansville home in 2010. The Indiana Supreme Court set his execution date in August after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his case in June. His attorneys argue that evidence of childhood trauma, mental illness and earlier head injuries was not adequately developed during his trial and appeals. They say new scans and quantitative analysis could help determine whether brain abnormalities existed before an injury he sustained during his arrest. The defense says earlier scans were conducted in 2012, but that further analysis could identify abnormalities not apparent from a visual review alone. A declaration filed by University of Pennsylvania professor Ruben Gur says quantitative analysis could compare Weisheit’s brain data with a database and assess it alongside neuropsychological testing and his history. Gur wrote that there was a substantial likelihood the data would show abnormalities predated Weisheit’s arrest. The state has disputed the strength of earlier brain-injury evidence. In a 2018 decision, the Indiana Supreme Court questioned whether Gur’s testimony established prior concussions or lasting injuries and cited a state expert who said medical evidence did not establish traumatic brain injuries apart from the injury during Weisheit’s arrest. The defense says new analysis could address those concerns; the proposed scans have not yet been completed, and their results are unknown. The state previously opposed the request for a federal transportation order, arguing that approval of funding for clemency-related work did not give the federal court authority to direct state officials. The federal judge agreed that funding approval did not require her to compel transportation. The attorneys have now turned to the state’s highest court, saying that without a transport order the brain imaging will not be available for the clemency process. Braun will make the final clemency decision after receiving the parole board’s recommendation. Weisheit’s execution would be Indiana’s fourth since the state resumed executions in December 2024 after a 15-year pause. Separately, state officials have said they intend to proceed with the execution and have purchased, but not yet acquired, the drugs planned for it. Braun said a recent failed execution attempt in Tennessee using the same drug, pentobarbital, gave him pause, but he expects Weisheit’s execution to move forward unless circumstances change.