Attorneys petition the Indiana Supreme Court to prevent Joseph Corcoran, a quadruple murderer, from being executed

Indianapolis, Indiana – Joseph Corcoran’s attorneys filed a motion on Friday asking the Indiana Supreme Court to postpone his execution, which is set for December 18.

According to a letter from Amy Karozos, one of Corcoran’s lawyers, her client has suffered from psychotic symptoms all of his life. Additionally, according to Karozos, Corcoran has a paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis.

As proof of Corcoran’s mental condition, his lawyers have produced a book he wrote under a false identity. Corcoran described the use of ultrasound equipment for electronic surveillance of inmates in the book. Additionally, according to Corcoran’s legal team, their client feels that he has been tortured by prison guards who have given him excruciating auditory hallucinations using ultrasound machines.

“A Whistle-Blower Report: Electronic Harassment” was the title of the book. Corcoran also stated in the book that he wants to demonstrate that his beliefs are “basic electronics” rather than “a nut job conspiracy theory.”

According to Karozos, Corcoran’s mental illness renders him incapable of being executed, and doing so would violate the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Ford v. Wainwright, wherein the court ruled that the execution of mentally ill people was illegal.

For the 1999 killings of his brother James Corcoran, his sister’s fiancé Robert Scott Turner, and two of their friends, Timothy Bricker and Douglas Stillwell, Corcoran received a death sentence.

In July 1997, the four victims were discovered shot dead in Corcoran’s Fort Wayne residence.

If Corcoran is put to death, it would be the first time since 2009 that the state of Indiana has used the death penalty. Fifteen years ago, the state executed Matthew Eric Wrinkles, who was found guilty of the 1994 murders of three individuals, via lethal injection.

In recent years, state officials have had difficulty obtaining medicines for executions. Governor Eric Holcomb declared in June that the Indiana Department of Correction had acquired the execution-use medication pentobarbital.

According to Corcoran’s lawyers, despite taking psychotropic drugs for decades, nothing has been able to help him. According to his legal team, Corcoran is unable to tell the difference between reality and hallucinations.

In order to give them time to present their Ford claim, Corcoran’s lawyers have asked for the stay. The motion has not yet received a response from the Attorney General’s office.

The state said that it was unable to reveal such information since it might reveal to the public which manufacturer the state purchased the medication from. According to Indiana law, state officials are not allowed to disclose whose businesses they bought medications from for executions.

The additional expense that taxpayers may incur when the state seeks the death penalty is also highlighted in the motion that Corcoran’s lawyers filed on Friday. The average cost of a death sentence trial in the Hoosier State was $385,458, according to a 2015 report submitted to the Indiana General Assembly. Compared to a trial where the prosecution seeks a maximum punishment of life in prison without the possibility of release, the cost of a death penalty trial is almost ten times higher.

Corcoran will be put to death “before the hour of sunrise on Dec. 18” unless his lawyers are able to prevent his execution.