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Thread: Joseph Edward Corcoran - Indiana Death Row

  1. #11
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    State renews Corcoran penalty

    By Rebecca S. Green
    The Journal-Gazette

    SOUTH BEND – Eighteen months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court sent Joseph Corcoran’s case back to the lower courts for the second time, effectively reinstating the death penalty against him.

    But a few issues remained unresolved in Indiana’s fight to execute Corcoran, 37, who killed at least four people before he turned 23.

    On Thursday, in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Judge Jon E. DeGuilio heard arguments about three of the remaining issues – whether Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull improperly used “non-statutory” factors against Corcoran when she sentenced him to death; whether she failed to properly consider factors in his favor; and whether Indiana’s death penalty statute is unconstitutional.

    DeGuilio took the matter under advisement, and when Indiana Deputy Attorney General Steve Creason reminded him that the case has been pending since 2005, he said he would rather get it right than have the attorneys get a quick ruling.

    Should DeGuilio rule in favor of the state’s desire to enforce the death penalty, the courts will then likely have to consider Corcoran’s remaining claim, whether he is incompetent because of his mental illness and should be spared the death penalty.

    Corcoran shot and killed his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two of his brother’s friends, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30, at a Bayer Avenue home in July 1997.

    Creason said in court Thursday that Corcoran, in the years since his conviction, has bragged about fatally shooting his parents with a shotgun in Steuben County in 1992, a crime for which he was charged and acquitted.

    The state of Indiana can request the death penalty if a defendant is found to have committed murder with at least one “aggravating circumstance,” such as the age of the victim, multiple victims, while committing another crime, or killing a law enforcement officer.

    In Corcoran’s case, Gull found that one of the aggravating circumstances existed, specifically the multiple victims. But when she sentenced Corcoran to death, she noted a number of factors against him – the innocence of the victims, the heinousness of the crime and the likelihood Corcoran would kill again.

    Corcoran’s attorneys – Lawrence Komp and Alan Freedman – argued that in her first sentencing order, and another one later ordered by the higher courts, Gull improperly considered those factors in sentencing Corcoran to death.

    But Creason, Indiana deputy attorney general, said Gull was right to note those in explaining her decision, not why Corcoran may have qualified for the death penalty under Indiana law. He noted an Allen Superior Court jury unanimously recommended the death penalty.

    The U.S. Constitution requires trial court judges, such as Gull, to specifically review the nature of the crime and the character of the defendant in figuring out the right sentence, Creason said.

    “The fact that she did that, can’t be a (constitutional) violation,” he said.

    DeGuilio must also consider whether Gull failed to consider specific factors in Corcoran’s favor when she sentenced him. Corcoran’s attorneys argue that when Gull said she found factors such as Corcoran’s age and good behavior in the jail to not be “mitigating,” she must not have considered them.

    “In this case the trial court didn’t listen,” Komp said. “Saying ‘it’s not mitigating’ is not considering it.”

    Creason argued Gull did consider them and didn’t give them any weight.

    “This is essentially an argument about semantics,” Creason said. “She listened and found it didn’t matter.”

    Corcoran’s attorneys also argued that Indiana’s death penalty statute is unconstitutional because it does not differ enough from how defendants can be eligible for both the death penalty and life in prison without parole.

    Creason said all the U.S. Constitution requires is that who is eligible for the death penalty – which in Indiana includes life in prison without parole – be a smaller number than those who have committed murder.

    “It’s not death or nothing,” he said, adding that the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found this particular argument by Corcoran’s attorneys to be frivolous.

    After his conviction and death sentence in 1999, Corcoran failed to file a petition in a timely manner to have the trial court review his case, refusing to sign the paperwork because he believed he should be put to death for his crimes, court documents said.

    Then in 2003, after it was determined he was a paranoid schizophrenic who understood his legal position, Gull found him capable of making the decision to refuse appeals, a decision the Indiana Supreme Court upheld.

    Corcoran changed his mind in early 2005 and tried unsuccessfully to seek a trial court review of his case. He then filed a petition in federal court but changed his mind again, saying he never wanted to appeal his sentence, court documents said.

    Against Corcoran’s wishes at the time, the late U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp overturned the death sentence, ruling that then-Allen County Prosecutor Robert Gevers inappropriately punished Corcoran by pursuing the death penalty against Corcoran because, as a defendant, Corcoran demanded a jury trial instead of a trial by judge.

    According to Sharp, the decision violated Corcoran’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial and right to have criminal charges clearly explained.

    But the 7th Circuit overturned Sharp’s decision in 2008, saying it is constitutionally permissible to use threat of more serious punishment to encourage a plea.

    But when the 7th Circuit issued its 2008 ruling, it dealt only with the Sixth Amendment question that Sharp had ruled on. In an October 2009 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court determined the appellate court should have addressed all of Corcoran’s claims, and it sent the case back for another ruling.

    In January 2010, the 7th Circuit handed the case back to the state courts, ordering the state court to hold a resentencing hearing to correct errors it said it found in Gull’s original sentencing order. The Indiana attorney general appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reviewed the case again this month.

    In November 2010, the nation’s highest court said the 7th Circuit erred when it said the sentencing order violated state law, which the state’s highest courts said it did not.

    Federal courts cannot review state court cases because of allegations of state law violations, only for violations of federal law, according to court documents.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/articl...969/-1/LOCAL11

  2. #12
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    Ind. man convicted of killing 4 loses appeal

    A Fort Wayne man on Indiana's death row for his conviction in the fatal 1997 shootings of four men has lost his latest appeal.

    A federal judge in South Bend last week denied Joseph Corcoran's death sentence appeal, finding that he failed to show that Indiana's decisions to uphold the death penalty in his case were contrary to decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The Journal Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/13y6bfE) Corcoran's attorneys said they plan to appeal. Corcoran's case has been reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court twice, a federal court twice and the Indiana Supreme Court five times.

    The now 37-year-old Corcoran was convicted in 1999 of killing his brother, his sister's fiance and two other men in July 1997. His attorneys have said he was mentally ill.

    http://www.ctpost.com/news/crime/art...#ixzz2I2tIk6nr
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  3. #13
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    On February 11, 2013, Corcoran filed an appeal in the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals over the denial of his habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...s/ca7/13-1318/

  4. #14
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    New appeal in Corcoran killings

    Case heading to 7th Circuit for fourth time

    The attorneys representing death-row inmate Joseph Corcoran are appealing his case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals again.

    In paperwork filed in U.S. District Court this month, Corcoran’s attorneys sought to be allowed to have the higher court review a January decision by U.S. District Judge Jon DeGuilio that denied Corcoran relief from his 1999 death sentence.

    In January, DeGuilo found that Corcoran failed to show that Indiana’s decisions to uphold the death penalty in his case were contrary to decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

    If accepted by the court, this new appeal would make the fourth time the case has been heard by the 7th Circuit.

    In their request to have the case heard by the federal appeals court, Corcoran’s attorneys wrote that because the case involves the death penalty they should be allowed to make their case.

    Corcoran’s attorneys again will argue that there were errors in how Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull sentenced Corcoran – specifically that she improperly considered factors against Corcoran in sentencing him and that she failed to consider specific factors in his favor, according to court documents.

    Corcoran shot and killed his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two of his brother’s friends, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30, at a Bayer Avenue home in July 1997.

    Since his incarceration, Corcoran has bragged about killing his parents with a shotgun in Steuben County in 1992 – a crime for which he was charged and acquitted.

    The state of Indiana can request the death penalty if a defendant is found to have committed murder with at least one aggravating circumstance, such as the age of the victim, multiple victims, while committing another crime or killing a law enforcement officer.

    In Corcoran’s case, Gull found that one of the aggravating circumstances existed, specifically the multiple victims

    But when she sentenced Corcoran to death, she noted a number of factors against him – the innocence of the victims, the heinousness of the crime and the likelihood Corcoran would kill again.

    She also noted some factors to be considered in his favor but gave them less weight than what she considered against him.

    In 2000, Gull rewrote her sentencing order, carefully explaining what she considered and what she did not. The order reaffirmed the death penalty, and it has been held up by the Indiana Supreme Court.

    DeGuilio ruled the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Gull’s order was not unreasonable, nor did Corcoran show the trial court violated his federally secured rights, according to court documents.

    But in their request for the case to go before the federal court of appeals, Corcoran’s attorneys argued that the 7th Circuit never answered the question of whether Gull improperly considered aggravating circumstances and should further consider whether she considered enough factors in his favor, according to court documents.

    The back-and-forth nature of the case in different levels of the judicial system has continued since Corcoran was convicted and sentenced in 1999.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/articl...984/1002/LOCAL
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  5. #15
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    4-time killer can appeal death penalty

    A federal judge in South Bend said convicted local murderer Joseph Corcoran can appeal his death sentence again to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

    In February, Corcoran’s attorneys asked whether they could appeal a January ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon DeGuilio denying the 37-year-old man relief from his death sentence.

    DeGuilio found that Corcoran failed to show that Indiana’s decisions to uphold the death penalty in his case were contrary to decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. On Wednesday, DeGuilio granted the request to have the higher court review his January ruling.

    Corcoran’s lawyers asked to be allowed to make their case to the higher court because it is a death penalty case, asking to again argue that there were errors in how Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull sentenced Corcoran.

    Specifically Corcoran’s lawyers argue that she improperly considered factors against Corcoran in sentencing him and that she failed to consider specific factors in his favor, according to court documents.

    If the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals accepts the case, it would be the fourth time it has heard it.

    Corcoran shot and killed his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two of his brother’s friends, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30, at a Bayer Avenue home in July 1997.

    Since his incarceration, Corcoran has bragged about killing his parents with a shotgun in Steuben County in 1992 – a crime for which he was charged and acquitted.

    The state of Indiana can request the death penalty if a defendant is found to have committed murder with at least one aggravating circumstance, such as the age of the victim, multiple victims, while committing another crime or killing a law enforcement officer.

    In Corcoran’s case, Gull found that one of the aggravating circumstances existed, specifically the multiple victims.

    But when she sentenced Corcoran to death, she cited a number of factors against him – the innocence of the victims, the heinousness of the crime and the likelihood Corcoran would kill again.

    She also cited some factors to be considered in his favor but gave them less weight than what she considered against him.

    In 2000, Gull rewrote her sentencing order, carefully explaining what she considered and what she did not. The order reaffirmed the death penalty, and it has been upheld by the Indiana Supreme Court.

    DeGuilio ruled that the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Gull’s order was not unreasonable, nor did Corcoran show the trial court violated his federally secured rights, according to court documents.

    But in their request for the case to go before the federal court of appeals, Corcoran’s attorneys argued that the 7th Circuit never answered the question of whether Gull improperly considered aggravating circumstances and should further consider whether she considered enough factors in his favor, according to court documents.

    In his order issued Wednesday, DeGuilio said that if Corcoran’s attorneys asked to appeal on any issue other than Gull’s sentencing considerations, he would not have granted it.

    The back-and-forth nature of the case in different levels of the judicial system has continued since Corcoran was convicted and sentenced in 1999.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/articl...961/1002/LOCAL
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #16
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    Corcoran v. Neal

    Opinion Date: April 14, 2015

    Court: Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

    In 1997 Corcoran shot and killed four men at his Fort Wayne home. A jury convicted him of four counts of murder. The trial judge imposed a death sentence. After unsuccessful state court appeals, Corcoran sought federal habeas relief, arguing that the trial judge impermissibly relied on nonstatutory aggravating factors and failed to consider mitigating evidence when deciding whether to impose the death penalty. The district court rejected the claims. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The court noted the deference owed to state-court factual findings under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 28 U.S.C. 2254(d)(2) and held that upheld the Indiana Supreme Court holding that the trial judge did not rely on nonstatutory aggravating factors. The state court reasonably determined that the trial judge considered all proffered evidence in mitigation: Corcoran’s age at the time of the crimes (22) and his good behavior in prison. The obligation to consider mitigating evidence in a capital case does not require that the evidence be credited or given any particular weight in the final sentencing decision.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #17
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    Corcoran death sentence still stands

    By Rebecca S. Green
    The Journal-Gazette

    Four times, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has heard the case of convicted quadruple-murderer Joseph Corcoran.

    This time, in a decision handed down this week, the court upheld the decisions of lower courts, paving the way for Corcoran’s execution.

    And in this most recent ruling, the higher court appears to admit it got it wrong in earlier rulings, by not giving enough deference to the Indiana Supreme Court’s opinions in this case.

    Corcoran’s case has exhausted state court remedies – including the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court – and made its way back and forth through the U.S. courts. It has been heard twice by the U.S. Supreme Court, in addition to the now-four times before the federal appeals court.

    Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull sentenced Corcoran to death in 1998 after his convictions for the murders of four people at a home on Bayer Avenue. Corcoran killed his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two of his brother’s friends, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30.

    Since his incarceration, Corcoran has bragged about killing his parents with a shotgun in Steuben County in 1992 – a crime for which he was charged and acquitted.

    The issues considered in Corcoran’s most recent appeal were whether Gull improperly considered factors against Corcoran in his sentencing that were prohibited by law, or conversely, whether she failed to consider evidence in his favor.

    The state of Indiana can request the death penalty if a defendant is found to have committed murder with at least one aggravating circumstance, such as the age of the victim, multiple victims, while committing another crime or killing a law enforcement officer.

    In Corcoran’s case, Gull found that one of the aggravating circumstances existed, specifically the multiple victims.

    But when she sentenced Corcoran to death, she cited a number of factors against him – the innocence of the victims, the heinousness of the crime and the likelihood Corcoran would kill again.

    She also cited some factors to be considered in his favor but gave them less weight than what she considered against him.

    In 2000, Gull rewrote her sentencing order, carefully explaining what she considered and what she did not. The order reaffirmed the death penalty, and it has been upheld by the Indiana Supreme Court.

    In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Jon DeGuilio upheld Gull’s order, after Corcoran’s attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus asking for another review of the sentence.

    DeGuilio denied their request but allowed them to appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which they did in the fall of 2013. It was on Corcoran to show the appellate court that Gull’s sentence was unreasonable.

    “He has not carried that burden,” Appellate Judge Diane S. Sykes wrote.

    Corcoran’s attorneys urged the 7th Circuit to follow its opinions in an earlier ruling, in which they disagreed with Gull.

    But in their most recent ruling, the judges of the 7th Circuit said they had not given the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision upholding Gull with the “deference it was due,” according to court documents.

    “In short, the state court’s decision was not unreasonable,” Sykes said.

    In this new ruling, the court cited a 1996 law, the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which affected the number of federal reviews for state death penalty cases.

    Sykes wrote that the appellate court did not “hew as closely as it should have to the deferential standard of review” mandated by that law in its earlier rulings.

    A message left seeking comment from Corcoran’s Missouri-based attorney, Laurence Komp, was not returned Thursday afternoon.

    Corcoran will be 40 years old Saturday and is housed in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. No execution date has been set, according to Indiana Department of Correction officials.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...stands-6138313

  8. #18
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    On August 11, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit DENIED Corcoran's petition for en banc rehearing.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/search.a...es/15-7503.htm

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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Corcoran's petition for certiorari.
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  10. #20
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    Death-row prisoner runs out of appeals

    By REBECCA S. GREEN
    The Journal-Gazette

    Joseph Corcoran waits.

    The convicted killer has been on Indiana’s death row for nearly 20 years, in 1998 sentenced by Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull to death for a quadruple murder.

    Armed with a shotgun, Corcoran killed his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two of his brother’s friends, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30, in a home on Bayer Avenue in July 1997.

    Since his incarceration, Corcoran has bragged about killing his parents, also with a shotgun in Steuben County in 1992 – a crime for which he was charged and acquitted.

    To say his case has been heavily litigated is probably an understatement. It has been heard in Indiana’s Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Corcoran’s appeal has even been heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on multiple occasions. In 2010, his sentence of death was reinstated by the nation’s highest court, overturning a ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

    It appears that that was the end.

    In March, the Supreme Court denied Corcoran’s request to have his case reviewed by the court for a third time. The refusal to hear it again lets stand a 2015 ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that upheld lower federal court rulings that left the sentence of death in place.

    He has no more appeals left in Indiana, either.

    For the past decade or so, the courts have looked at whether Gull improperly considered factors against Corcoran in his sentencing, or whether she properly considered factors in his favor.

    The state of Indiana can request the death penalty if a defendant is found to have committed murder with at least one aggravating circumstance, such as the age of the victim, multiple victims, while committing another crime or killing a law enforcement officer.

    In Corcoran’s case, Gull found that one of the aggravating circumstances existed, specifically the multiple victims.

    But when she sentenced Corcoran to death, she cited several factors against him – the innocence of the victims, the heinousness of the crime and the likelihood Corcoran would kill again.

    She also cited factors to be considered in his favor, but gave them less weight than what she considered against him.

    In 2000, Gull rewrote her sentencing order, carefully explaining what she considered and what she did not. The order reaffirmed the death penalty, and it has ultimately survived challenges in state and federal courts for the past 13 years.

    In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Jon DeGuilio upheld Gull’s order, after Corcoran’s attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus asking for another review of the sentence.

    DeGuilio denied their request but allowed them to appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which they did in the fall of 2013. It was on Corcoran to show the appellate court that Gull’s sentence was unreasonable.

    The 7th Circuit backed DeGuilio, and, as of an order issued in late March, the U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear it anymore.

    For now, the 41-year-old Corcoran, who is a paranoid schizophrenic, sits in a cell in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, one of 14 people in the Indiana Department of Correction under the sentence of death, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.

    The last execution in the state was in 2009, with the death by lethal injection of Matthew Wrinkles who was convicted of the murder of his wife, brother-in-law and his brother-in-law’s wife in 1994.

    A lawsuit is pending in LaPorte County Circuit Court on the use of Indiana’s three-drug protocol for executions. The lawsuit was filed in January by death-row inmate Roy Lee Ward against the Indiana Department of Corrections. There was a hearing held Friday on a motion by the State of Indiana to dismiss the lawsuit, but no ruling has been issued yet, according to court record.

    No executions are scheduled, according to the Department of Correction.

    And the Indiana Attorney General has not asked for a date for Corcoran’s execution, officials said.

    Corcoran’s attorney, Alan Freedman, said there is but one likely option left: clemency.

    That is probably a longshot option, based on recent behavior by past Indiana governors.

    Democrat Gov. Joseph Kernan granted clemency twice. In 2004, Kernan commuted the sentence of Darnell Williams because his co-defendant received a sentence of life without parole.

    Again in 2005, Kernan commuted a death sentence to life without parole, this time in the case of Michael Daniels. There were doubts about Michael Daniels’ personal responsibility for the crime, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

    Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, granted clemency to Arthur P. Baird II in 2005. The family of Baird’s victims believed he deserved a life sentence because of his mental illness.

    No clemency has been granted in the past decade in the Hoosier State.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...peals-13782219

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