Indiana Carries Out Its First Execution in 15 Years

An Indiana man convicted of killing four people including his brother and his sister's fiancé decades ago was put to death Wednesday, without any independent witness, marking the state's first execution in 15 years, the AP reports. Joseph Corcoran, 49, was pronounced dead at 12:44am CST at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana, the Indiana Department of Correction said in a statement. Corcoran was scheduled to be executed with the powerful sedative pentobarbital, but the state agency's statement did not mention that drug. Corcoran's execution was the 24th in the US this year.

He was convicted in the July 1997 shootings of his brother, 30-year-old James Corcoran, his sister's fiancé, 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner, and two other men, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30. According to court records, before Corcoran fatally shot the four victims he was under stress because the forthcoming marriage of his sister to Turner would necessitate moving out of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, home he shared with his brother and sister. While jailed for those killings, Corcoran reportedly bragged about fatally shooting his parents in 1992 in northern Indiana's Steuben County. He was charged in their killings but acquitted.

Last summer, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced plans to resume state executions following a yearslong hiatus marked by a scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide. The state provided limited details about the execution process, and no media witnesses were permitted under state law. Indiana and Wyoming are the only two states that do not allow members of the media to witness state executions, according to a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center. Corcoran's attorneys had fought his death penalty sentence for years, arguing he was severely mentally ill, which affected his ability to understand and make decisions. This month his attorneys asked the Indiana Supreme Court to stop his execution but the request was denied. Prison officials said in a brief statement Tuesday evening that Corcoran "requested Ben & Jerry's ice cream for his last meal."

(More Indiana stories.)