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A majority of Indiana’s Supreme Court justices said lawyers for death row inmate Joseph Corcoran have not presented adequate evidence to challenge their client’s competency — and ruled that defense counsel can not seek late-term, post-conviction relief for Corcoran without his consent.
That’s despite arguments from the inmate’s lawyers that he is “severely” mentally ill and should be disqualified from execution.
In a split, 3-2 decision, Indiana’s Supreme Court justices issued an order Thursday evening denying requests by Corcoran’s lawyers to delay his impending execution date and allow for his case to be reviewed or to overturn his sentence. Release of their opinion that explains the reasons behind the court’s decision was delayed until Tuesday morning, however.
Justices Mark Massa, Geoffrey Slaughter and Derek Molter concurred. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff dissented.
Justices explain their positions
Molter pointed to a recent letter Corcoran sent to the court, in which he said he has “no desire nor wish[es] to engage in further appeals or litigation whatsoever.” With his “own free will” and “without coercion or promise of anything,” he asked the court to withdraw his counsel’s motions.
“Since Corcoran does not authorize the successive petitions on his behalf, we cannot authorize them either,” Molter wrote.
The justice further emphasized that concerns raised by defense counsel over Corcoran’s mental health have already “been thoroughly litigated in both state and federal courts.” Those prior court proceedings concluded that Corcoran was competent to waive his post-conviction options.
Molter noted, too, that public defenders do not claim Corcoran’s condition has changed. Rather, Corcoran’s lawyers “confirmed” in recent court filings that their client’s condition is the “the same as it has been for decades,” Molter said. Without new evidence showing Corcoran is no longer competent, the concurring justices said they could not permit the inmate’s lawyers to seek out post-conviction remedies on his behalf.
“The State Public Defender doesn’t claim, and there is no substantial threshold showing that, Corcoran has a delusional belief that the State has some reason for punishing him other than the reasons the State claims,” Molter wrote. “No doubt, the State Public Defender points to evidence that some of Corcoran’s other beliefs are irrational, but his understanding of his execution is not. Virtually all the evidence the State Public Defender cites is the evidence we previously considered when determining Corcoran could waive post-conviction remedies.”
The execution is set for “before sunrise” on Dec. 18 and will be the first for the state of Indiana since 2009.
A separate stay request was made last week pending a federal appeal and the Indiana Supreme Court has not yet ruled on that motion.
Case background
Corcoran – then 22 — killed his brother, James Corcoran, 30; Robert Scott Turner, 32; Douglas A. Stillwell, 30; and Timothy G. Bricker, 30, on July 26, 1997. He committed the murders at the home he shared with his brother and a sister.
Joseph Corcoran told police at the time that the four men had been talking about him. He first placed his 7-year-old niece in an upstairs bedroom to protect her from the gunfire before killing the four men.
He then laid down the rifle, went to a neighbor’s house, and asked them to call the police. A search of his room and attic, to which only he had access, uncovered over 30 firearms, several munitions, explosives, guerrilla tactic military issue books, and a copy of “The Turner Diaries.”
Corcoran’s mental health has been at the heart of his case for decades.
Goff and Rush dissented, saying every medical expert who has examined Corcoran found him to be seriously mentally ill. They would have granted a short stay to evaluate Corcoran’s current competency.
“To ignore these findings now and proceed with execution without a current competency evaluation amounts to enabling his delusions —a state-sanctioned escape from suffering rather than a measured act of justice,” the dissent said.
Rush and Goff said Corcoran has consistently displayed an inability to cooperate with counsel and act rationally throughout his legal proceedings.
“There is no penalty more severe—more irrevocable—than death. So, when reviewing cases imposing this penalty, justice demands not haste but precision and care. Guaranteeing this demand constitutionally requires ensuring a prisoner is competent to be executed.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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