Joseph Corcoran: Indiana executes first death row inmate in 15 years

A death row inmate’s last words were “let’s get this over with” before he became the first person to be executed in the US state of Indiana in 15 years.

Joseph Corcoran, 49, died by lethal injection on Wednesday for the 1997 murders of his brother, his sister’s fiancee and two other men.

He had been on death row since 1999 and was executed despite his legal team and campaigners appealing to Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb to use his powers to grant clemency.

In a petition to the federal courts, including the US Supreme Court, the quadruple murderer’s lawyers maintained that he suffered from “severe and longstanding paranoid schizophrenia”.

They added that this was documented in self-published books from prison in which he described being subject to “ultrasonic surveillance”.

Deputy public defender Joanna Green said on Tuesday: “If the courts do not stay the execution, we are asking Gov Holcomb to grant clemency to Joe, a seriously mentally ill man.”

It came a day after a federal appeals court ruled that Corcoran was mentally fit enough to be executed.

Anti-death penalty groups had spent the past few days demonstrating outside Indiana’s state capitol building which houses the office of Mr Holcomb, the Indiana General Assembly and the Indiana Supreme Court.

They also delivered letters to Mr Holcomb’s office urging him to grant clemency.

Holcomb’s office did not immediately respond to a request from Sky News’ US partner network NBC News on Tuesday.

The governor announced in June that the state had procured pentobarbital, a sedative used in lethal injections, after “years of effort”.

He said at the time: “Accordingly, I am fulfilling my duties as governor to follow the law and move forward appropriately in this matter.”

Corcoran’s last meal

The Indiana Department of Correction began the execution process shortly after midnight local time on Wednesday and Corcoran was pronounced dead around 44 minutes later.

The department said his last words were: “Not really. Let’s get this over with.”

Corcoran requested Ben & Jerry’s ice cream as his last meal, the department added.

Ahead of the execution, anti-death penalty campaigners criticised the Indiana Department of Correction for carrying out the process without media witnesses.

Of the 27 states that still allow for capital punishment, only Indiana and Wyoming exclude media witnesses, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.

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‘It’s going to ruin Christmas’

Before the execution, David Frank, the president of the Indiana Abolition Coalition, made reference to Christmas when he said: “One week before we welcome the light of the Prince of Peace into the world… the state in secret, under cover of darkness, plans to take the life of Mr Corcoran.”

Meanwhile, Corcoran’s sister Kelly Ernst, whose fiancee Robert Scott Turner was one of his victims, said she believes the death penalty should be abolished and criticised the state’s decision to execute her brother a week before Christmas.

Ms Ernst said: “My sister and I, our birthdays are in December… I mean, it just feels like it’s going to ruin Christmas for the rest of our lives. That’s just what it feels like.”

What was Corcoran convicted of?

Corcoran was 22 when he fatally shot his brother James, 30, at the home they shared in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He also killed Turner, 32, and friends Douglas Stillwell and Timothy Bricker, both 30.

Five years earlier, Corcoran was acquitted of the murders of his parents, Jack and Kathryn Corcoran, after jurors found not enough evidence to convict.