Corcoran’s defense discusses latest attempt to stay execution
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Attorneys for death row inmate Joseph Corcoran filed a new motion, Saturday, requesting a stay of execution.
The defense wants time for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Corcoran is mentally competent. If found incompetent, his execution would be unconstitutional.
Corcoran is convicted of murdering four people in 1997, including his own brother James Corcoran, his sister’s fiancé Robert Turner, and two others, Timothy Bricker and Doug Stillwell.
“Indiana needs to decide whether they want to execute someone who is seriously mentally ill,” Deputy Public Defender Joanna Green told I-Team 8 just before the motion was filed.
Corcoran is scheduled to die by lethal injection before sunrise on Dec. 18, unless Green and the rest of his defense are successful in stopping his execution.
“We’ve learned a lot about mental health since the years Joe was sentenced to death. We’ve learned a lot about Joe’s mental health,” Green said. “We’ve learned a lot about mental health societally and how it affects people’s behavior.”
Corcoran has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and recently made claims that prison guards in the Indiana State Prison are targetting him with an ultrasound machine to torture him.
In November, Corcoran sent a handwritten letter to the Indiana Supreme Court asking to withdraw his defense, allowing the state to end his life.
“I think that there needs to be a more updated mental health evaluation on whether he’s competent to make that decision,” Green said. “Otherwise the state is capitulating to his suicide by lethal injection.”
“Being in prison for the rest of your life is a fair amount of justice for any crime.”
Religious leaders have protested outside the Indiana Statehouse, calling on Gov. Eric Holcomb to grant Corcoran clemency.
But this week, in an interview with I-Team 8, Gov. Holcomb made it clear, barring a decision from the court, he had every intention of carrying out Corcoran’s execution.
“With all due respect to the courts, we’re on their timeline up until we’re not,” Holcomb said.
The Indiana Supreme Court rejected two requests to block the execution earlier this month. Green believes the defense hasn’t been given a fair shot to make their case because the court hasn’t allowed for an updated evaluation of Corcoran’s mental status.
Republican State Rep. Bob Morris has asked Gov. Holcomb to simply delay the execution to allow time for the legislature to debate a bill that would abolish the death penalty in its next session. That would allow lawmakers and governor-elect Mike Braun to make the ultimate decision.
“To put someone to death weeks before a bill is being introduced that could potentially abolish the death penalty in Indiana seems unjust and inhumane,” Green said.
In filings, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office argued the execution should be carried out because of Corcoran’s own request to end litigation.
If the court rejects this latest attempt to stop Corcoran’s execution, he could still petition the U.S. Supreme Court. But Green admits it would most likely be in the governor’s hands at that point.
Indiana’s last execution was Matthew Eric Wrinkles on Dec. 11, 2009.