MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) 鈥� An convicted of killing four people including his brother and his sister鈥檚 fianc茅 decades ago was put to death early Wednesday, marking the state鈥檚 first execution in 15 years.
Joseph Corcoran, 49, was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. 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鈥檚 statement did not mention that drug. Corcoran鈥檚 execution was the 24th in the U.S. this year.
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鈥檚 editor early Wednesday.
Four people viewed the execution through a one-way 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, according to Komp who said he only had a partial view and could not hear anything, including if Corcoran spoke.
By the state's account, Corcoran's last words were: "Not really. Let鈥檚 get this over with.鈥�
Komp said 鈥渢here was no way to tell鈥� 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 .
According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, witnesses were only allowed to watch the execution for six minutes before blinds to the viewing room were closed. Corcoran, whose pastor was allowed in the room with him during the execution, 鈥渁ppeared awake with his eyes blinking, but otherwise still and silent," according to the newspaper.
Corcoran was convicted in the July 1997 shootings of his brother, 30-year-old James Corcoran, his sister鈥檚 fianc茅, 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner, and two other men, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30.
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鈥檚 Steuben County. He was charged in their killings but acquitted.
Last summer, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced plans to following a yearslong hiatus marked by a scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide.
Corcoran鈥檚 attorneys had fought his death penalty sentence for years, arguing he was severely mentally ill, which affected his ability to understand and make decisions. This month his attorneys asked the Indiana Supreme Court to stop his execution but the request .
Corcoran in 2016. But his attorneys asked the U.S. District Court of Northern Indiana last week to stop his execution and hold a hearing to decide if it would be unconstitutional because Corcoran has a serious mental illness. The court declined to intervene Friday, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit did the same Tuesday.
Corcoran鈥檚 attorneys then asked the U.S. Supreme Court issue an emergency order halting his execution, but the high court denied their request for a stay late Tuesday, ending Corcoran鈥檚 options with the courts.
Komp said that he was disappointed with the high court鈥檚 decision, adding that the question of Corcoran鈥檚 mental health was not properly evaluated.
鈥淭here has never been a hearing to determine whether is he competent to be executed,鈥� he said in a statement to The Associated Press. 鈥淚t is an absolute failure for the rule of law to have an execution when the law and proper processes were not followed.鈥�
Corcoran's sole remaining hope then became Holcomb, who could have commuted Corcoran鈥檚 death sentence. But that commutation never came and the execution proceeded as scheduled.
At midnight, a group of activists who oppose the death penalty began singing 鈥淎mazing Grace.鈥�
Holcomb's office released a statement early Wednesday following Corcoran's execution.
鈥淛oseph Corcoran鈥檚 case has been reviewed repeatedly over the last 25 years 鈥� including 7 times by the Indiana Supreme Court and 3 times by the U.S. Supreme Court, the most recent of which was tonight. His sentence has never been overturned and was carried out as ordered by the court,鈥� Holcomb said in the statement.
Indiana鈥檚 last state execution was in 2009 when Matthew Wrinkles was put to death for killing his wife, her brother and sister-in-law in 1994. Since then, were carried out in Indiana but those were initiated and performed by federal officials in 2020 and 2021 at a federal prison in Terre Haute.
State officials have said they couldn鈥檛 continue executions because a combination of drugs used in lethal injections had become unavailable.
For years, there has been a shortage across the country because pharmaceutical companies for that purpose. That鈥檚 pushed states, including Indiana, to turn to compounding pharmacies, which manufacture drugs specifically for a client. Some use more accessible drugs such as the sedatives pentobarbital or midazolam, both of which, critics say, can cause intense pain.
Religious groups, disability rights advocates and others have opposed his execution. About a dozen people, some holding candles, held a vigil late Tuesday to pray outside the prison, which is surrounded by barbed wire fences in a residential area about 60 miles (90 kilometers) east of Chicago.
鈥淲e can build a society without giving governmental authorities the right to execute their own citizens,鈥� said Bishop Robert McClory of the Diocese of Gary, who led the prayers.
Other death penalty opponents also demonstrated outside the prison Tuesday night, some holding signs that read 鈥淓xecution Is Not The Solution鈥� and 鈥淩emember The Victims But Not With More Killing.鈥�
鈥淭here is no need and no benefit from this execution. It鈥檚 all show,鈥� said Abraham Borowitz, director of Death Penalty Action, his organization that protests every execution in the U.S.
Prison officials said in a brief statement Tuesday evening that Corcoran 鈥渞equested Ben & Jerry鈥檚 ice cream for his last meal.鈥�
Corcoran said farewell late Tuesday to relatives, including his wife, Tahina Corcoran, who told reporters outside the prison that they discussed their faith and their memories, including attending high school together. She reiterated her request for Indiana鈥檚 governor to commute her husband鈥檚 death sentence.
Tahina Corcoran said her husband was 鈥渧ery mentally ill鈥� and she didn't think he fully grasped what was happening to him.
鈥淗e is in shock. He doesn鈥檛 understand,鈥� she said.
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Callahan reported from Indianapolis.
Sophia Tareen And Rick Callahan, The Associated Press
