Indiana Supreme Court denies stay of execution; first state execution in 15 years moves forward

Associated Press

The Indiana Supreme Court has denied a request to stay the execution of man convicted in the killings of his brother and three other men. The court in an order dated Thursday also denied petitions by Joseph Corcoran’s lawyers to argue claims on whether the scheduled Dec. 18 execution would violate his constitutional rights and whether he is competent to be executed. The execution would be Indiana’s first state execution in 15 years. The 49-year-old Corcoran was convicted in July 1997. His brother, James Corcoran, 30-year-old Douglas A. Stillwell, 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner and 30-year-old Timothy Bricker were shot to death. Corcoran has been on death row since 1999. He exhausted his appeals in 2016.