Indiana’s governor and attorney general have asked to set an execution date for Fort Wayne’s Joseph Corcoran, who was convicted in a 1997 quadruple homicide. (Courthouse photo from Allen County and mugshot from public record. Photo illustration by Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
The Indiana Supreme Court on Wednesday set a Dec. 18 execution date for a Fort Wayne quadruple murderer, but said he has other legal options to try to block the resumption of the death penalty in Indiana.
Joseph Corcoran’s attorneys have argued that he should not be executed because he is “unquestionably seriously mentally ill,” and that killing him would violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as cruel and unusual punishment.
Corcoran’s mental health has been a part of the decades-old case since its inception, with state and federal public defenders saying he continues to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia that causes him to experience “persistent hallucinations and delusions.”
In a 5-0 decision, the court said it could consider previously undiscovered evidence but not past evidence of mental illness.