INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is one of 27 states where state-backed executions are still legal, but no one has been put to death in a Hoosier prison in 15 years. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita look to change that.
On Wednesday, Rokita’s office filed a motion with the Indiana Supreme Court seeking to set a date for the execution of Joseph Corcoran — a Fort Wayne man found guilty of murdering four people in 1997.
If put to death, Corcoran will be the first person to be executed by the State of Indiana since Matthew Eric Wrinkles was killed via lethal injection in 2009.
The federal system has been putting inmates to death in Terre Haute.
The death penalty: Inside Indiana’s complicated history with capital punishment
While Indiana’s death penalty remains in effect and eight convicted murderers currently sit on death row, a lack of drugs has meant a lack of executions.
Drugs used in the lethal injection cocktail include methohexital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. But the drugmakers behind those drugs don’t want their products used to kill prisoners.