Indiana plans first execution in 15 years, putting inmate to death for quadruple murder despite his schizophrenia

The state of Indiana intends to carry out its first execution in 15 years before sunrise Wednesday, though attorneys for the condemned inmate are fighting to save his life, citing his mental illness.

The United States Supreme Court declined Tuesday to stop the execution of an Indiana death row inmate, Joseph Corcoran, who was convicted of killing four people in 1997. There were no recorded dissents, and, as is typical for emergency cases, the court did not provide any reasoning. Corcoran, 49, is set to be executed before sunrise Wednesday, marking Indiana’s first execution in 15 years. Lawyers for Corcoran – sentenced to die for the murders of four men, including his brother and his sister’s fiancé – have argued in court filings that putting him to death would violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments because he has long suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He experiences auditory hallucinations and delusions, falsely believing prison guards have been torturing him using sound waves, they note. Corcoran does not have a rational understanding of his situation, they argue, despite the inmate’s own written statements indicating he wants his execution to proceed. The Indiana Supreme Court and a judge from the US District Court in northern Indiana were also not convinced by the attorneys’ arguments, and have so far declined to halt the execution. Corcoran was convicted of murdering his brother, James Corcoran; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner; as well as Timothy Bricker and Douglas Stillwell.