(Indianapolis, IN) – Governor Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita are asking the Indiana Supreme Court to set execution dates for those sentenced to death, starting with a convicted murderer responsible for the deaths of four people.
“After years of effort, the Indiana Department of Correction has acquired a drug – pentobarbital – that can be used in executions. Accordingly, I am fulfilling my duties as Governor to follow the law and take appropriate action in this matter,” said Governor Holcomb.
Joseph Corcoran was found guilty of murdering four people in 1997. He exhausted all appeals in 2016 and is now awaiting execution.
“In Indiana, state law provides the death penalty as a means of delivering justice to victims of society’s most heinous crimes and holding perpetrators accountable,” Rokita said. “In addition, it serves as an effective deterrent to certain potential offenders who might otherwise commit similar serious violent crimes. Now that the Indiana Department of Correction is prepared to carry out the lawfully imposed sentence, it is the duty of our justice system to immediately resume executions in our prisons. Today, I am filing a motion asking the Indiana Supreme Court to set a date for the execution of Joseph Corcoran.”
Corcoran is one of eight men on death row who have exhausted their appeals. All eight are being held at the Indiana State Penitentiary in Michigan City.
It has been 15 years since the last time a death row inmate was executed in Indiana.
