The Indiana State Prison in Michigan City has scheduled the execution of Indiana death row inmate Joseph Corcoran before sunrise on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024.
The U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a request to postpone the execution of Joseph Corcoran, an inmate on death row in Indiana. The execution is set to occur before sunrise on Wednesday.
Despite multiple efforts by the inmate’s lawyers, the 2-1 decision to proceed with Corcoran’s execution comes after a string of previous refusals to grant a delay.
Despite arguments from legal counsel that he should be spared due to his “ongoing” mental illness, the Indiana Supreme Court has upheld the sentence, as have multiple state and federal courts. The state’s high court justices have recently rejected further attempts by defense lawyers to delay the execution and assess Corcoran’s competency. Appeals for post-conviction relief at the federal level have also been unsuccessful.
“Corcoran has submitted a detailed sworn notarized affidavit that articulately sets forth his desire not to pursue federal relief,” federal circuit judges Michael B. Brennan and Thomas L. Kirsch II wrote in their opinion, referring to a November letter Corcoran sent to the high court , in which he said he has “no desire nor wish[es] to engage in further appeals or litigation whatsoever.” With his “own free will” and “without coercion or promise of anything,” he asked the justices to withdraw his counsel’s motions..
“His composition and filing of that affidavit undercuts an assertion of incompetency to pursue a habeas petition,” the federal judges continued in the Monday opinion. “We seriously question whether Corcoran’s wife and attorneys have proved that he is incompetent to litigate himself. If not, next-friend status is not proper for him.”
Brennan and Kirsch emphasized that Corcoran was deemed competent in 2004 and has never been declared incompetent.
“The record does not show evidence of Corcoran’s mental competency degrading since that earlier finding of competency,” the judges said. “There is also not a recent evaluation that Corcoran does not understand the reasons for his execution. Indeed, Corcoran’s affidavit attests that he does understand his execution and the reasons for it. The state court made no unreasonable factual determinations.”
However, Judge John Z. Lee held a different opinion than his fellow judges.
He said in his dissent that, “to support its belief that Corcoran is competent to be executed and nothing has changed, the Indiana Supreme Court placed much stock in the statements Corcoran made in his November 21, 2024, affidavit.”
According to Lee, the defense counsel for Corcoran was not given sufficient time to respond to the letter before the Indiana high court issued its opinion.
“The Indiana Supreme Court’s reliance on Corcoran’s untested affidavit is particularly troubling given that defense counsel’s entire theory is premised on Corcoran’s inability to rationally comprehend the reasons behind his execution and his efforts to hide his true motivations for seeking the death penalty,” Lee wrote.
He noted, too, that given Corcoran’s “long, undisputed history of severe mental illness and the pervasiveness of his continuing delusions, as evidenced by his book and recent medical records,” the condemned man “is entitled to have at least one court assess his competency to be executed.”
Corcoran’s legal team filed a request for a rehearing by the full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning. However, their request was denied just a few hours later.
The docket stated, “Since the Supreme Court has the ultimate authority to address the concerns brought up by the Petitioner-Appellant, no currently serving judge has requested a vote on the rehearing en banc… The rehearing and rehearing en banc petition is denied.”
Governor Eric Holcomb holds the power to decide the fate of Corcoran, unless the courts intervene. He has consistently expressed his support for capital punishment, but only in cases where it is deemed appropriate.
According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, the Republican governor recently expressed his belief that Corcoran is mentally ill. However, Governor Holcomb emphasized that he is awaiting the conclusion of the judicial proceedings before taking any action. He also acknowledged that the courts have already ruled on Corcoran’s ability to stand, carry out the sentence, and uphold the conviction.
Corcoran, who has been on death row since 1999, has consistently refused to pursue appeals that could potentially overturn his death sentence.
On July 26, 1997, he was 22 years old when he killed his brother James Corcoran, 30; Robert Scott Turner, 32; Douglas A. Stillwell, 30; and Timothy G. Bricker, 30. He murdered his brother and sister in the home they shared.
Throughout the course of the long-standing case, his mental health has played a significant role, as both state and federal public defenders have highlighted his ongoing struggle with paranoid schizophrenia. This condition has resulted in his enduring and distressing experiences of persistent hallucinations and delusions.
