Convicted murderer Joseph Corcoran was put to death early Wednesday morning, in the State of Indiana’s first execution since 2009.
Asked if he wanted to make a final statement before receiving a lethal injection of pentobarbital, Corcoran responded, “Not really. Let’s get this over with,” according to a media advisory shared with The Independent by an Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman.
For his last meal, Corcoran, 49, requested Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, the Indiana DOC said, without specifying a particular flavor.
The execution process began shortly after midnight local time; Corcoran was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. Rev. David Leitzel, Corcoran’s childhood pastor, was permitted to remain beside him in the death chamber during his final moments.
Corcoran, who lived with his brother and sister at the time of the murders, was convicted of fatally shooting his brother, his sister’s fiancé, and two of their friends in 1997 after overhearing them say he would no longer be welcome to reside there once she got married. Five years earlier, a jury acquitted Corcoran on charges of killing his parents due to a lack of eyewitnesses or a murder weapon.
In a handwritten affidavit Corcoran submitted to the court on November 22, he acknowledged that his attorneys had been trying to put a stop to his execution. They petitioned to call it off, pointing to his severe mental illness, but Corcoran said he was ready to die.
“I am guilty of the crime I was convicted of,” Corcoran wrote in the motion, describing his actions as “heinous.”
Three decades ago, following the death of her husband-to-be, Corcoran’s sister, Kelly Ernst, told the Associated Press, “Everything’s gone. He’s ruined my life. I hope he fries.”
However, Ernst recently changed her mind about her brother’s impending execution, posting on Facebook earlier this month that her “views on the death penalty have evolved as I’ve matured.”
“Nearly 30 years have passed since the events occurred and only afterwards was Joe diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia,” her statement said. “At the time of his actions, I was too naïve, self-absorbed, and uneducated to recognize his condition for what it was… Recently,. Joe has expressed remorse and regret in written correspondence and I have forgiven him. I assume he is now on medication for his condition.”
Ernst said she would not attend her brother’s execution, because being there would “take a piece of me that I will not get back.”
“I hope the other victims are also moving forward and finding peace,” Ernst wrote. “This situation is deeply sad and tragic. I believe his execution serves no purpose.”
After Corcoran received the deadly dose of drugs through an IV hooked up to the wall, he “appeared awake with his eyes blinking, but otherwise still and silent,” according to the lone reporter allowed to witness the procedure.
“After a brief movement of his left hand and fingers at about 12:37 a.m., Corcoran did not move again,” wrote Casey Smith of the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “Blinds to the witness room were closed by the prison warden at 12:40 a.m.”
Six men remain on Indiana’s death row, according to WPTA, an ABC and NBC affiliate in Fort Wayne. The state’s next execution will be that of Benjamin Ritchie, who was convicted of gunning down a police officer in September 2000. A date has not yet been set.
