INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is set to carry out its first execution in 15 years, with Joseph Corcoran, 49, facing the death penalty for a conviction dating back 25 years for the murders of his brother and three other men.
Corcoran has been on death row since 1999. His scheduled execution on Wednesday marks Indiana’s first use of the death penalty since 2009. In that span, 13 executions were conducted under federal oversight in 2020 and 2021.
The execution is set to take place before sunrise at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, located approximately 45 miles east of Chicago.
This event has reignited discussions surrounding the state’s choice of drugs for lethal injection. Corcoran was convicted in connection with the 1997 shooting deaths of his brother, James, and three other men: Douglas Stillwell, Timothy Bricker, and Robert Turner.
Court records indicate that Corcoran acted out of frustration over his sister’s forthcoming marriage to Turner, which would have required him to move. After overhearing a conversation involving his brother and others, he retrieved a rifle and fatally shot all four men.
While in custody, Corcoran reportedly made claims about having previously shot his parents in 1992, a crime for which he was ultimately acquitted. His sister, Kelly Ernst, who lost both a brother and her fiancé in the 1997 murders, expressed a belief that the death penalty should be abolished, asserting it won’t bring about any resolution.
Ernst remarked on the emotional toll the situation has taken on her, stating, “I just don’t know what else to say. I haven’t slept in weeks.”
Since Indiana last executed Matthew Wrinkles in 2009 for multiple homicides, the state faced challenges in administering lethal injections due to drug shortages, attributed to pharmaceutical companies not supplying products for capital punishment.
Indiana plans to use pentobarbital for Corcoran’s execution, which has been used in other recent federal executions. State officials have not disclosed the source of this drug, directing inquiries to a confidentiality law regarding lethal injection drugs.
The Indiana Department of Correction has stipulated the precise protocols for the execution, limiting attendance to select officials, designated witnesses, and a few relatives of the victim and the accused.
Corcoran has exhausted federal appeals as of 2016, and his attorneys sought to delay the execution due to his reported mental health issues. They filed a petition in federal court, alleging he suffers from severe paranoid schizophrenia, which manifests as distressing hallucinations.
Despite these claims, the federal district court denied intervention, prompting an appeal to a higher court. Advocates, including Indiana Disability Rights, have urged the governor to commute Corcoran’s sentence, arguing that executing individuals who lack full comprehension of their circumstances infringes on fundamental human rights.
