MICHIGAN CITY, Indiana — An Indiana man convicted in the 1997 killings of his brother and three other people is set to receive a lethal injection by early Wednesday in the state’s first execution in 15 years, without any independent witness present under the state’s laws shielding information about the death penalty.
Joseph Corcoran, 49, has been on death row since 1999, the year he was convicted in the shootings of his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two other men: Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30.
Indiana is one of only two states, along with Wyoming, that do not allow members of the press to witness state executions, according to a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center.
Barring last-minute court action or intervention by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Corcoran is scheduled to be put to death before sunrise Wednesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Last summer, the governor announced the resumption of state executions after a yearslong hiatus marked by a scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide.
Indiana has provided few details about the process, including a specific execution time. Indiana prison officials only provided photos of the execution chamber, showing a space that looks like a sparse operating room with a gurney, bright fluorescent lighting and interior windows to an adjacent viewing room.
Under Indiana law, the only people allowed to be present are the prison warden, those assisting in the execution, the prison physician, one additional physician, the condemned person’s spiritual adviser and the prison chaplain.
Up to five friends or relatives of the inmate and up to eight relatives of the victims of the crime are allowed to view the process.
Corcoran’s attorneys have fought the death penalty sentence for years, arguing Corcoran is severely mentally ill, which affects his ability to understand and make decisions. Corcoran exhausted his federal appeals in 2016. Earlier this month, his attorneys asked the Indiana Supreme Court to stop his execution but the request was denied.
According to court records, before Corcoran shot the men in July 1997, he was stressed because his sister’s forthcoming marriage to Turner would necessitate moving out of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, home he shared with his brother and sister.
Corcoran awoke to hear his brother and others downstairs talking about him, loaded his rifle and then shot all four men, records show. While jailed, Corcoran reportedly bragged about fatally shooting his parents in 1992 in northern Indiana’s Steuben County. He was charged in their killings but acquitted.
If carried out, the execution is to be the state’s first since 2009. In that time, 13 executions 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.
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.
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 nationwide because pharmaceutical companies have refused to sell their products for that purpose. That’s 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.
Indiana is planning to use pentobarbital to execute Corcoran, and, like many states, is refusing to divulge where it got the drugs. When asked for details, the Indiana Department of Correction directed The Associated Press to a state law labeling the source of lethal injection drugs as confidential.
Last week, Corcoran’s attorneys filed a petition in the U.S. District Court of Northern Indiana asking the court to stop the execution and hold a hearing to decide if it would be unconstitutional because Corcoran has a serious mental illness. They cited “severe and longstanding paranoid schizophrenia.” The court rejected the bid to intervene on Friday as did the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit on Tuesday afternoon.
Corcoran’s attorney Joanna Green said they are filing a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court’s decision.
Religious groups, disability rights advocates and others have opposed the execution plan. Several activists were preparing a vigil starting late Tuesday outside the prison, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) east of Chicago.
In early December, Indiana Disability Rights asked the governor to commute Corcoran’s sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Holcomb recently said he would let the legal process “play out” before deciding whether to intervene.
One of Corcoran’s sisters, Kelly Ernst, who lost both a brother and her fiancé in the 1997 shootings, said she believes the death penalty should be abolished and that executing her brother won’t solve or change anything. She was not planning to be present for the execution.
Ernst said she had been out of contact with her brother for 10 years until recently.
“I’m at a loss for words. I’m just really upset that they’re doing it close to Christmas,” she said. “My sister and I, our birthdays are in December. I mean, it just feels like it’s going to ruin Christmas for the rest of our lives. That’s just what it feels like.”
Callahan reported from Indianapolis. Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.
