Attorneys Don’t Think Joseph Corcoran Should be Executed

Source: Judge gavel, scales of justice and law books in court

INDIANAPOLIS — Joseph Corcoran was convicted of killing four people in 1997.  

His attorneys asked the Indiana Supreme Court to cancel his execution because of his mental illness. Lawyer Amy Karozos argued that Corcoran’s paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis make him unfit for execution under the Supreme Court’s Ford v. Wainwright ruling, which prohibits the execution of the mentally ill. 

Attorneys talked about a book that Corcoran wrote under a pseudonym, claiming prison guards used ultrasound machines to torment him with auditory hallucinations. The book, titled A Whistle-Blower Report: Electronic Harassment, portrays his beliefs as grounded in “basic electronics,” not conspiracy theories.  

Corcoran received a death sentence in 1999 for fatally shooting his brother, James Corcoran; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Turner; and their friends, Timothy Bricker and Douglas Stillwell. If carried out, his execution would be Indiana’s first since 2009, when Matthew Wrinkles was executed for a triple murder.  

Indiana has faced challenges obtaining lethal injection drugs, but in June, Governor Eric Holcomb confirmed the state acquired pentobarbital for executions. Officials have declined to disclose the drug’s cost or manufacturer, citing state laws protecting supplier anonymity.  

Corcoran’s lawyers are also questioning the financial toll of capital punishment. A 2015 report to Indiana lawmakers estimated that death penalty trials cost an average of $385,458, which is nearly ten times the cost of trials seeking life without parole.  

Unless the motion succeeds, Corcoran’s execution will proceed as planned, “before the hour of sunrise” on December 18th.