IBJ file photo Gov. Eric Holcomb
INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Eric J. Holcomb announced today that he and Attorney General Todd Rokita are seeking the resumption of executions in Indiana prisons — starting with a convicted murderer responsible for the deaths of four people.
“After years of effort, the Indiana Department of Correction has acquired a drug — pentobarbital – which can be used to carry out executions. Accordingly, I am fulfilling my duties as governor to follow the law and move forward appropriately in this matter,” Gov. Holcomb said.
Joseph Corcoran was found guilty of the 1997 murders of four people, state officials said. He exhausted his appeals in 2016 and has been awaiting execution.
“In Indiana, state law authorizes the death penalty as a means of providing justice for victims of society’s most heinous crimes and holding perpetrators accountable,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Further, it serves as an effective deterrent for certain potential offenders who might otherwise commit similar extreme crimes of violence. Now that the Indiana Department of Correction is prepared to carry out the lawfully imposed sentence, it’s incumbent on our justice system to immediately enable executions in our prisons to resume. Today, I am filing a motion asking the Indiana Supreme Court to set a date for the execution of Joseph Corcoran.”
In July 1997, Corcoran shot and killed his brother James Corcoran, his
sister’s fiancé Robert Scott Turner, and two of their friends: Timothy Bricker and
Douglas Stillwell, according to court documents. In 1999, a jury found Corcoran guilty of four counts of murder and recommended a death sentence. Following the jury’s recommendation, the trial court sentenced Corcoran to death.
No active stay preventing Corcoran’s execution is pending, according to court documents, which list the individual appeals filed by the defendant through the years.
The filing seeks to have a new execution date set because no active stay is pending.
