US state of Indiana executes Joseph Corcoran after 27 year legal battle
Al Jazeera
Joseph Corcoran had paranoid schizophrenia when he killed four people, including his brother, in 1997, his lawyers say.
The state of Indiana in the United States has carried out its first execution in 15 years, putting to death a man, whose lawyers say he was mentally ill, murdering four people in 1997, including his own brother.
Joseph Corcoran, 49, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead early Wednesday morning at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, officials said.
His last words were “Not really. Let’s get this over with,” a statement by the Indiana Department of Correction said.
Corcoran’s lawyers argued in court filings that carrying out the death penalty would violate the Constitution because he had long suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, including experiencing hallucinations and delusions, making him unable to understand the severity of his crimes.
Corcoran’s “longstanding and documented mental illness continues to torment him as it did at the time of the 1997 offence,” his legal team said.
