Indiana Resumes Executions
On December 18, 2024, Indiana ended a 15-year execution hiatus with a fatal injection of pentobarbital given to state prisoner Joseph Corcoran, 49. Though state law does not provide for journalists to witness executions, Corcoran’s family invited an Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter to join them as a guest in one of two witness boxes.
The other box was reserved for friends and relatives of the prisoner’s victims: Corcoran fatally shot Robert Scott Turner, 32; Douglas A. Stillwell, 30; Timothy G. Bricker, 30; along with his own brother, Joseph Corcoran, 30, at the home they shared with a sister in July 1997. Since the two boxes were hidden from one another’s view, it was unknown who was in the second one.
Corcoran’s wife, Tahina, was among those present. She said the two, who met in high school, shared memories before his killing. She also said that he was “very mentally ill” and “in shock.” Corcoran, who refused to file for clemency and insisted that he accepted his sentence, was a diagnosed schizophrenic who suffered from paranoid delusions that ultrasound machines were controlling his thoughts. His mental health was the subject of numerous appeals to his death sentence, the most recent denied by the state Supreme Court on December 10, 2024. See: Corcoran v. State, 2024 Ind. LEXIS 760.
Additional source: Indiana Capital Chronicle
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