Joseph Corcoran's execution in Indiana will be the first in 15 years

The state of Indiana hasn’t carried out a death sentence in 15 years, but that’s set to change this week.

Joseph Corcoran, 49, of Allen County, is scheduled to be executed before sunrise Wednesday.

Corcoran was sentenced to death in 1999 for fatally shooting four people on July 26, 1997. He has been on death row at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City longer than all but two of the other men facing the death penalty in Indiana.

Here’s a look at the case and where things stand.

In detail:The lonely life and crimes of Joseph Corcoran, scheduled to be executed on December 18th

What were Joseph Corcoran’s crimes?

Corcoran, then 22, lived in Allen County with his brother James Corcoran. his sister, Kelly Nieto; and her fiancé Robert Turner in 1997. According to court documents, he became angry when he heard his brother Turner and two of his brother’s friends, Timothy Bricker and Doug Stillwell, talking about him. After taking his seven-year-old niece to an upstairs bedroom, Corcoran loaded his semi-automatic rifle and fatally shot his brother, his brother’s two friends and Turner.

Joseph Corcoran’s lawyers said it would be wrong to execute him

Corcoran’s lawyers have argued that their client’s long history of mental illness, including paranoid schizophrenia, leaves him unable to understand the seriousness of his crimes and the reason for his punishment. They said Corcoran could have avoided the death penalty initially “if his mental illness had not influenced the decision-making process during his prosecution.” Corcoran’s “ultimate refusal to accept either a settlement or a trial without the death penalty,” they wrote in a filing, “was a result of his mental illness.”

They have also pointed to Corcoran’s delusions that his prison guards tortured him with an ultrasound machine and that he suffers from a non-existent sleep disorder. For Corcoran, death is not a punishment but a way to escape what he sees as a torturous existence, his lawyers argued.

The latest:Federal judge rejects request to stop execution of Joseph Corcoran due to mental illness

What is the status of Corcoran’s case?

His lawyers have so far failed to convince state and federal judges to stop the execution. On Monday, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Chicago upheld another judge’s decision denying lawyers’ request to stop the execution. His lawyers have requested a rehearing before the full appeals court.

The court case:Joseph Corcoran’s lawyers are appealing to federal court to spare him from the death penalty

The justices have largely relied on Corcoran’s recent statement that he did not want to continue his case, seeing it as evidence that he accepts and understands the reasons for his execution.

“I am guilty of the crime for which I was convicted and accept the findings of all appellate courts,” Corcoran wrote in an affidavit last month.

More about the case:The Indiana Supreme Court rejects requests to stay the execution of Joseph E. Corcoran

Can the media attend the execution?

No. Indiana law allows only certain people, including prison officials, the inmate’s spiritual advisor and his or her friends or relatives. The law also allows members of the victims or their immediate families to witness the execution. The law establishes the need to keep confidential the identities of prison personnel tasked with carrying out the execution.

Reporters are not allowed into the prison grounds. Instead, there will be a media presentation area in a parking lot across from the facility.

Opinion:Why Indiana plans to secretly kill Joseph Corcoran

When was the last execution in Indiana?

Matthew Eric Wrinkles, 49, of Evansville, was the last Indiana state prisoner to be executed. That happened on December 11, 2009. Wrinkles was convicted of murdering his estranged wife and two of her relatives. Since then, no other inmate has been executed by the state of Indiana.

However, there were 13 executions of federal prisoners in Terre Haute between July 14, 2020 and January 16, 2021.

Indiana has executed 92 men since 2009.

Why did Indiana stop executions?

A lawsuit and other complications prevented Indiana and many other states from obtaining the drug mix used in their lethal injection protocol.

In June, Gov. Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita announced they were moving to resume executions after prison officials purchased the drug pentobarbital to carry out death sentences.

Others read:As Indiana tries to resume lethal injections, two Evansville-area men sit on death row

Who else is on death row in Indiana?

A total of eight men are awaiting execution on death row at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. In addition to Corcoran, these include:

William Gibson, convicted in Floyd County in 2012 of the assault and murder of Christine Whitis.
Eric D. Holmes, convicted in Marion County in 1989 of the murders of Theresa Blosl and Charles Ervin.
Kevin Isom, convicted in Lake County in 2007 of murdering his wife Casindra and their two children.
Michael Dean Overstreet, convicted in Johnson County in 1997 of murdering Kelly Eckart.
Benjamin Ritchie, convicted in Marion County in 2000 of murdering William Toney.
Roy Lee Ward, convicted in Spencer County in 2001 for the murder of Stacy Payne.
Jeffrey A. Wisdom, convicted in 2010 in Clark County (change of venue from Vanderburgh County) for the murders of Alyssa and Kayla Lynch.

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Joseph Corcoran’s execution in Indiana will be the first in 15 years

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