Plea to block execution of Indiana death row inmate now in hands of Indiana Supreme Court
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Both the state and attorneys for Joseph Corcoran have filed briefs with Indiana Supreme Court on request to block his execution later this month.
Corcoran’s attorneys filed their response with the state’s highest court Tuesday morning.
Corcoran faces death by lethal injection after a jury found him guilty in the July 26, 1997 shooting deaths of four men.
The men included his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Turner, 32; and two friends of James, Timothy Bricker, 30, and Doug Stillwell.
Corcoran’s legal team wants the justices to stay his execution to allow a hearing on whether he suffers from severe mental illness, which could make him ineligible for capital punishment.
“This Court should grant the successor petition to allow the claim that the evolving standards of decency now prevent the execution of the seriously mentally ill,” Corcoran’s attorneys wrote in a brief to the justices.
Corcoran has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and “cannot distinguish between reality and his delusions and hallucinations,” according to his attorneys.
The Indiana Attorney General’s office has asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for Corcoran’s execution.
State attorneys argue that Indiana’s Supreme Court “has never held that our constitution prohibits the execution of a person based on a mere allegation of ‘severe mental illness’.”
The justices have not indicated when they might rule on the request.
Corcoran’s execution is set for Dec. 18.