Indiana executes Joseph Corcoran, the state's first execution since 2009

The state of Indiana executed its first inmate in 15 years when Joseph Edward Corcoran was pronounced dead before dawn on Wednesday morning.

Corcoran, 49, was convicted in 1999 of the quadruple murders of his older brother, his sister’s fiancé and their two friends in 1997. He committed the murders with a semi-automatic rifle in the house he shared with his older sister and brother in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Corcoran, who was 22 at the time, killed his brother, 30-year-old James Corcoran; his sister’s fiancé, 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner; and her two friends, 30-year-old Timothy Bricker and 30-year-old Douglas Stillwell.

Before Corcoran’s execution, his lawyers filed a petition with the Indiana Supreme Court asking them to consider his client’s competency based on his paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis in 1999. The court rejected the lawyers’ request on December 5.

“If Corcoran had not been mentally ill, the crimes would never have occurred,” Larry Komp, one of Corcoran’s lawyers, told USA TODAY before the execution.

According to the Indiana Department of Correction, Corcoran died at 12:44 a.m. CST after being given a lethal dose of pentobarbital, a drug used separately to treat seizures and insomnia.

Here’s what you should know about Corcoran’s execution.

“Let’s get this over with.”

According to the state Department of Corrections, the execution proceedings began shortly after midnight CST.

Corcoran spoke his final words before taking his final breath.

“Not really. Let’s get this over with,” he said.

After the execution, Governor Eric Holcomb said: “Joseph Corcoran’s case has been reviewed repeatedly over the past 25 years – including seven times by the Indiana Supreme Court and three times by the U.S. Supreme Court, most recently tonight. “The sentence was never overturned and was carried out as ordered by the court.”

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita also issued a statement saying Corcoran has “finally paid his debt to society as justice has been served for his victims.”

What was Joseph Corcoran convicted of?

Corcoran was convicted on May 22, 1999, of the murders of his brother Turner, Stillwell and Bricker. On August 26, 1999, he was sentenced to death for the murders.

On July 26, 1997, Corcoran lay on the floor of his bedroom in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, home where he lived with James Corcoran and his older sister Kelly Ernst and heard men’s voices downstairs, according to a 2013 court filing. He assumed that the men were supposedly talking about him, the court document continues.

An angry Corcoran grabbed the file, went downstairs and confronted the four men before shooting them at point-blank range, the filing said. Stillwell tried to escape the house, but Corcoran tracked him down and shot him in the head, the court document said.

After the shooting, Corcoran went to a neighbor’s house and asked her to call 911, a separate court filing said. After the call came to police, he returned home, sat on the porch and waited for officers to arrive, the court document said.

“You made me angry,” Corcoran told officers, according to court documents. “I shot them all.”

The quadruple murder occurred five years after Corcoran was acquitted of the murders of his parents, 53-year-old Jack Corcoran and 47-year-old Kathryn Corcoran, at the family home in Ball Lake, Indiana. The couple was shot with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Kelly Ernst laments the execution of her younger brother 27 years later

In a Facebook post shared on December 2, Ernst wrote that she was “too naive, self-centered and uneducated to recognize Corcoran’s paranoid schizophrenia 27 years ago.” According to court records, two doctors made the diagnosis in 1999 during Corcoran’s sentencing memorandum.

“While I couldn’t say I should have known, I could have known better,” Ernst wrote in the Facebook post. “I believe in going forward, not backward.”

According to the social media post, Ernst has also “forgiven” her younger brother, even though he killed her fiancé over two decades ago. Corcoran even “expressed remorse and regret in written correspondence” to his sister, the post said.

“I believe that the death penalty neither addresses grief nor provides true justice, particularly for victims and those with mental illness. It does not bring closure or relief as I believe there is no such thing as closure,” her social media post read. “Instead, it is a lengthy, costly and political process. My views on the death penalty have evolved as I have matured.”

In 1997, Ernst, then Kelly Nieto, spoke to the Associated Press about Corcoran and said, “Everything is gone. He ruined my life. I hope he eats.” According to the Facebook post, Corcoran’s sister now believes “his execution serves no purpose.”

The state of Indiana resumed executions after 15 years

Indiana has not executed an inmate since December 11, 2009, when Matthew Eric Wrinkles died by lethal injection for the 1994 murders of his estranged wife, her sister and her brother-in-law.

According to the Indiana Department of Corrections, a total of 94 inmates have been executed in the state of Indiana since 1897, two in different states and another by federal authorities. After Wrinkles, Indiana went on a 15-year pause in executions until Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb decided to resume them this year.

“Accordingly, I am fulfilling my duties as governor to follow the law and, in doing so, move forward appropriately,” Holcomb said in a statement.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a separate statement obtained by the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, “We are doing our duty – on behalf of victims and the law-abiding public – to detain perpetrators like Joseph.” Corcoran is responsible for their terrible actions.”

Death penalty advocates have spoken out against Holcomb’s decision, including the Indiana Abolition Coalition and Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, who argue that executions are undignified, morally wrong and expensive for taxpayers.

Joseph Corcoran remarried two months before his execution

On Oct. 30, Corcoran remarried Tahina Krontz, reported the Louisville Courier-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. According to the outlet, the ceremony was officiated by Justin Krontz, the bride’s son.

The two met in high school and court records show they married in 2004 before filing for divorce two years later.

Along with Corcoran’s lawyers, Tahina Corcoran filed a final motion Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit seeking a stay of her husband’s execution on the grounds that he “suffers from an untreated mental illness.”

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