Indiana Supreme Court sets date for first state execution in 15 years

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court has set the date for the first state execution in 15 years. WXIN-TV reports the court on Wednesday said Joseph Corcoran will be executed before sunrise on Dec. 18. Corcoran was convicted in the killings of four people in 1997. Indiana’s last state execution was in 2009, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, when Matthew Wrinkles was executed for the murdering his wife, her brother and sister-in-law. The yearslong pause has been attributed to the unavailability of drugs used in lethal injections. Gov. Eric Holcomb said in June that the state Department of Correction had acquired the sedative pentobarbital, a drug multiple states use in lethal injections.