A man on Death Row who repeatedly asked to be killed has finally been given an execution date.
Joseph Corcoran, 49, has been on Death Row for 25 years after being convicted for the murder of his own brother James and three other men in Fort Wayne, Indiana in July 1997. Last month the Indiana Supreme Court issued a notice Corcoran would be executed by lethal injection on December 18.
Despite Corcoran’s attorneys continuing to argue the inmate is too mentally ill to be killed, Corcoran has previously said he wants to die, reports the Daily Mail. “I believe the death penalty is just punishment for murder. I’m guilty of murder, therefore I should be executed,” Corcoran told a Fort Wayne newspaper in 2006.
READ MORE: Death Row killer given deadline as he gets to decide how he will be executed
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(Image: Indiana State Prison)
He added: “Why give such a person life in prison? If they kill someone, they’ve won the lottery; they get free room and board for the rest of their life. Therefore, it is my opinion that the death penalty is a just punishment for murder.”
When he was convicted Corcoran attempted to have his right to appeal the death sentence waived.
At the time of the murders, the then 22-year-old killer was living with his sister Kelly, her fiancé Robert Turner and his brother James. Corcoran claimed he could hear his brother, brother-in-law and two other men called Timothy Bricker and Doug Stillwell talking about him.
Enraged, Corcoran loaded his assault rifle and went downstairs to kill the unsuspecting group.
(Image: Getty Images)
After being imprisoned, it was found Corcoran was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. In a July court filing it was revealed the inmate has daily delusions that prison guards are torturing him with an ultrasound. He also believes his thoughts are broadcast to the rest of the prison, which makes people act hostile towards him.
Corcoran’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to argue his mental health problems are behind his wishes to die. Clinical psychologist testified at a post-conviction hearing he was not competent to waive his appeals.
Kaplan said: “One of the reasons that he wants to die is because he doesn’t want to continue to suffer with this speech disorder that he doesn’t really have.”
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