Attorneys for convicted murderer Joseph Corcoran are asking for a stay of execution, scheduled for Dec. 18.
Filed Friday, the motion asks the state to schedule on Corcoran’s competency, most specifically his paranoid schizophrenia. In prior filings, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said the state could not hear arguments about his mental state until an execution date was set.
In 1999, an Allen Superior Court jury convicted Corcoran of the murders of his brother James Corcoran, his sister’s fiancé Robert Scott Turner, and two of their friends: Timothy Bricker and Douglas Stillwell.
His case has been caught up in legal wrangling over his mental condition in the decades since his conviction and sentencing. This past summer, Rokita requested the state set a date for Corcoran’s execution after years of inactivity in the case.
In the new court filing, Corcoran’s attorneys cite his 30-page book self-published in September as “glimpse into continuing delusion”. Corcoran’s schizophrenia causes him to believe that guards are torturing him with sound waves.
Corcoran believes his execution would end his suffering and to him is not punishment, according to court documents.
