INDIANAPOLIS — In mid-December, the state of Indiana is expected to conduct its first execution since 2009.
According to an order from the Indiana Supreme Court issued on Wednesday, Joseph Corcoran, a Fort Wayne man who killed four people in 1997, will be executed by the state before the hour of sunrise on Dec. 18.
The last state execution occurred in 2009 when Matthew Eric Winkles was killed by lethal injection. Multiple individuals have been federally executed in Terre Haute, including Daniel Lewis Lee in July 2020.
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According to previous reports , Corcoran was found guilty of shooting four people, including his brother, his sister’s fiancé and two of their friends, in 1999. Corcoran has gone through multiple appeals as well as multiple sentencing hearings that resulted in the death sentence.
In June, the state filed its motion to set an execution date, telling the court that the state and federal review for Corcoran’s convictions had ended and that they were unaware of any pending requests that had been filed to review the convictions/sentences. The state also told the court that there were no stays pending on Corcoran’s death sentence.