Three Republican lawmakers are introducing legislation that would abolish the death penalty in Indiana after the state carried out its first execution in 15 years.
The bill, authored by state Rep. Robert Morris (R-Fort Wayne), would repeal the existing death penalty statute and commute the sentences of seven men currently on death row to life imprisonment without parole.
At least six states this year enacted legislation altering use of the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonpartisan research group that tracks trends in capital punishment.
Efforts to abolish capital punishment are ongoing in at least a dozen states, according to the center’s annual report on the death penalty.
The text of Morris’s bill also offers an alternative to life without parole for intellectually disabled defendants charged with murder. The sentencing court would be permitted to sentence disabled defendants to a fixed term.
“As we saw with the unjust killing of Joseph Corcoran this week, we cannot rely on courts or the executive branch to act. Capital punishment must never be allowed as an option again in Indiana,” the Indiana Abolition Coalition said in a statement praising Morris and his two coauthors, Chris Judy and Jake Teshka.
The report also noted that Indiana was one of three states to restart executions in 2024 after more than a decade.
Press freedom groups are also calling for changes to the Indiana death penalty statute, which doesn’t guarantee access for media.
“Providing for government transparency in the places of our justice system that are the most sensitive allows citizens to feel confident in the ability of the State of Indiana to properly enforce the law and dispense punishments,” said a joint letter to Gov. Eric Holcomb from the Hoosier State Press Association, the Indiana Broadcasters Association, and the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
“In the case something goes wrong, transparency also allows for an assessment of the process by outside experts that can lead to improvements necessary to avoid such scenarios. Preventing the media from witnessing executions prevents this transparency,” the letter said.
Indiana is unusual in that it doesn’t guarantee space for journalists. State officials cited the existing Indiana statute, which makes no mention of media, when they rejected credential requests from news outlets.
Outside the state prison in Michigan City, where Indiana is preparing to carry out the execution of Joseph Corcoran sometime before sunrise pic.twitter.com/ENum34hyt2
One reporter did witness the execution of Joseph Corcoran, however, after the prisoner granted her a space reserved for friends and family. Casey Smith, senior reporter for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, said she didn’t observe overt signs of discomfort during Corcoran’s execution.
“There was no clear indication that his breathing changed drastically, from my point of view. He did not seem to spasm at all,” Smith said.
In an interview early Wednesday, Smith said she entered the witness room shortly after 12:30 a.m. central time. She said the blinds opened at 12:34 a.m., and she observed what happened during the next six minutes, until 12:40 a.m. Officials then closed the blinds, she said, and pronounced Corcoran dead minutes later.
Smith said that she was not able to observe everything that happened before the execution, including Corcoran’s final words with a spiritual advisor. But she said he did not appear to be in obvious distress during the execution.
A spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Corrections said that Corcoran’s body was released to the county coroner for autopsy after the execution.
