One day after the year anniversary of Joseph Corcoran’s execution, Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting and Shalom Zone were able to meet with Gov. Mike Braun’s staff to discuss ending capital punishment in Indiana.
The interfaith coalition met with Molly Craft, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for communications, on Dec. 19. According to First Friends, the discussion centered on ways to connect with state senators and representatives to get support for a moratorium on the death penalty and then establish a study commission so lawmakers can have time to review and “better understand the statistics, facts and other realities” about capital punishment.
The meeting came almost one year after Corcoran was put to death on Dec. 18, 2024, and less than a week after the interfaith coalition had delivered a stack of letters to Braun’s office, calling on the governor to end the death penalty. Corcoran’s execution was the first in Indiana in 15 years and was followed by the executions of Benjamin Ritchie in May 2025 and Roy Lee Ward in October 2025…