Indiana is set to execute its first inmate in 15 years

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy For the first time in 15 years, Indiana will execute a death row inmate – a man who was convicted a quarter-century ago of killing his brother and three other men. Joseph Corcoran, now 49, has been on Indiana’s death row since 1999 and is set to be executed before sunrise Wednesday, December 18, at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He then wrote an affidavit to the justices: “I am guilty of the crime I was convicted of, and accept the findings of all the appellate courts.” Last week, his attorneys filed a petition in the US District Court of Northern Indiana asking the court to stop his execution and hold a hearing to decide if it would be unconstitutional because Corcoran has a serious mental illness. They argued he has “severe and long standing paranoid schizophrenia” and his condition “manifests as auditory hallucinations and delusions that prison guards are torturing him with an ultrasound machine.” “Indeed, he has volunteered to be executed, and is eager to be executed, because he believes his execution will give him relief from the perceived pain his delusions and hallucinations inflict upon him,” according to the filing.