AP – An Indiana man convicted of killing four people including his brother and his sister’s fiancé decades ago was put to death yesterday, marking the state’s first execution in 15 years.
Joseph Corcoran, 49, was pronounced dead at 12.44am CST at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana, the Indiana Department of Correction said in a statement.
Corcoran was scheduled to be executed with the powerful sedative pentobarbital, but the state agency’s statement did not mention that drug. Corcoran’s execution was the 24th in the United States (US) this year.
He was convicted in the July 1997 shootings of his brother, 30-year-old James Corcoran, his sister’s fiancé, 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner and two other men, Timothy G Bricker, 30, and Douglas A Stillwell, 30. The state provided limited details about the execution process, and no media witnesses were permitted under state law. However, Corcoran chose a reporter for the Indiana Capital Chronicle as one of his witnesses, the outlet’s editor posted on X early yesterday.
Four people viewed the execution through a window in a small adjacent room, said Corcoran attorney Larry Komp. He said he, a reporter from Indiana Capital Chronicle and two family members were witnesses. The death took eight minutes, but Komp said he only had a partial view and he could not hear anything, including any last words.
Komp said “there was no way to tell” if Corcoran was in pain.
Indiana and Wyoming are the only two states that do not allow members of the media to witness state executions, according to a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Centre.
According to court records, before Corcoran fatally shot the four victims he was under stress because the forthcoming marriage of his sister to Turner would necessitate moving out of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, home he shared with his brother and sister.
While jailed for those killings, Corcoran reportedly bragged about fatally shooting his parents in 1992 in northern Indiana’s Steuben County. He was charged in their killings but acquitted.
Last summer, Governor Eric Holcomb announced plans to resume state executions following a years-long hiatus marked by a scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide.
Corcoran’s attorneys had fought his death penalty sentence for years, arguing he was severely mentally ill. This month his attorneys asked the Indiana Supreme Court to stop his execution but the request was denied.
