An Indiana prisoner who was convicted of killing four people, including his brother and his sister’s fiancé, was executed early Wednesday morning – becoming the state’s first inmate to be put to death 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.
Before he was executed, the killer uttered his haunting last words, when asked if he had anything to say: ‘Not really. Let’s get this over with.’
His last meal was Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Indiana’s 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.
Sixteen prisoners have been executed at Terre Haute, a federal facility, since 2001.
Corcoran’s death took eight minutes, according to his attorney Larry Komp, who said he only had a partial view and could not hear anything, including if Corcoran spoke.
The inmate 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 US this year.
It was the first execution in an Indiana state prison that used the one-drug method, according to The Indiana Capital Chronicle. Previous executions used a concoction of three substances. Terre Haute has used pentobarbital in executions before.
Joseph Corcoran, 49, was pronounced dead at 12:44am CST at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana. Before he was executed, the killer uttered his haunting last words, when asked if he had anything to say: ‘Not really. Let’s get this over with’
Four people were present to witness his death, including his wife Tahina and her son, his attorney Komp, and Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith.
Corcoran’s spiritual advisor, Revered David Leitzel, was allowed inside the execution chamber and told The Chronicle that he had the ‘better part of an hour to talk’ with the prisoner before going into the room.
‘We had serious conversation. We had prayer together. We talked and laughed, we reminisced, we had stories, we had memories, we talked about spiritual things – it was kind of a standard time of talking with him,’ he said.
‘When going into it, he actually was talking more about the other guys on death row, and how it was going to impact them. He wasn’t talking about his own feelings and fears.
‘He had talked to me about that at one point, but his greatest fear was that it would not be peaceful. From my perspective, it was very, very peaceful.’
Leitzel said he did not hold Corcoran’s hand while the drug was administered, but prayed over him as the inmate, who he has known since the 1990s, requested.
Viewing into the execution chamber began at 12:34am, when Smith witnessed Corcoran lying on the table blinking. By 12:37am, after a brief movement in his left hand, he did not move again.
The blinds were closed to the room at 12:40am and he was pronounced dead four minutes later, according to Smith’s report.
Corcoran 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 of Indiana does not allow media witnesses to view executions, but Smith was allowed in after Corcoran personally added her name to his witness list and the warden agreed, according to the paper’s editor-in-chief, Niki Kelly.
‘Without this, no journalist would have been present. Indiana is one of only two states that doesn’t allow media witnesses,’ Kelly wrote on X.
The other state is Wyoming.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita stated: ‘He finally paid his debt to society as justice was provided to his victims.’
Judge Frances C. Gull, who presided over his 1999 trial, said: ‘My only thoughts today are with the families of those he was found guilty of murdering. I hope they find some measure of peace knowing that his sentence has been carried out.’
Tahina, who spoke with her husband prior to his execution, was against his death sentence and said he was ‘very mentally ill’ and was ‘in shock’ the last time she had spoken with him, according to The Chronicle.
His case had gone before the Indiana Supreme Court seven times and the US Supreme Court three times, including just before his execution, according to Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
Corcoran’s body will be cremated and his ashes will be returned to his wife, according to The Chronicle.
Corcoran’s death took eight minutes, according his attorney Larry Komp, who said he only had a partial view and could not hear anything. It was the first execution in a state prison in Indiana that used the one-drug method (pictured: guards outside the prison before his execution)
Outside the prison, protesters including the Death Penalty Action advocated against Corcoran’s death.
‘There is no reason for Indiana to resume executions, and especially not with a man who is severely mentally ill,’ Abraham Bonowitz, Death Penalty Action’s executive director, told The Chronicle.
‘Indiana has been safe from people who have committed awful crimes while holding them accountable without executions for nearly 15 years.’
Corcoran’s defense have long attested to his ‘severe mental illness,’ which was documented in his psychological evaluation following the death of his parents at the age of 17, according to the outlet.
He was charged with their deaths, but was acquitted.
Over the past 25 years, several doctors have suggested Corcoran suffered from depression, paranoid schizophrenia, and schizoid personality disorder.
His defense team argued in a December 17 letter that the government was ‘able to kill him’ because Corcoran would ‘rather die’ than admit he was schizophrenic.
‘This is even more so when realizing he could have avoided the death penalty although, but for the mental illness,’ the letter read. ‘But that would have required him to acknowledge his schizophrenia.
His case had gone before the Indiana Supreme Court seven times and the US Supreme Court three times, including right before his execution
‘It is disappointing that Indiana chose to restart executions in such an unfortunate manner – a week before Christmas, a season intended for life and joy.’
The state had originally offered Corcoran a life sentence if he accepted a plea or waive jury, but he refused, stating he would ‘sever his vocal cords first because his involuntary speech allowed others to know his innermost thoughts,’ court documents said.
Over the decades, Corcoran refused to sign paperwork to help overturn his conviction, including one that would have initiated a clemency review, according to the outlet.
His attorneys argued this was due to his delusions that he thought an ultrasound machine used at the prison was controlling him, according to The Chronicle.
Despite his illness, the state still rendered him competent enough to be put to death.
Corcoran 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.
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.
Over the past 25 years, several doctors have suggested Corcoran suffered from depression, paranoid schizophrenia, and schizoid personality disorder. Despite his illness, the state still rendered him competent enough to be put to death
State officials have said they couldn’t 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 have refused to sell their products for that purpose.
That has 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.
Komp said there was no way to know if Corcoran was in pain during his injection.
