Indiana on death row for 4 killings runs out of appeals

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A Fort Wayne man who’s been on death row since 1999 for killing his brother and three other men has exhausted his appeals.

Forty-one-year-old Joseph Corcoran was convicted in the July 1997 killings of his 30-year-old brother, James Corcoran; 30-year-old Douglas A. Stillwell; 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner; and 30-year-old Timothy G. Bricker. Turner was the fiancé of Corcoran’s sister, according to The Journal Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/29E7ioY ).

He allegedly killed the men with a semiautomatic rifle in the living room of the home he shared with his brother and sister because he couldn’t stand to hear them talking about him.

Several courts, including the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, have ruled on the case.

The judge who sentenced Corcoran to death rewrote her sentencing order in 2000, explaining how she came to her decision and reaffirming the sentence.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Corcoran’s request in March to review his case for a third time. The court had previously reinstated his death sentence in 2010.

Corcoran’s attorney says his last option for avoiding execution appears to be clemency. He is currently being held in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

Officials say the Indiana Attorney General has not asked for a date for Corcoran’s execution.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net