Death row inmate Joseph Corcoran — whose execution is scheduled for next week — filed a civil rights complaint in federal court on Monday against Indiana’s Department of Correction after the agency rejected his request to be accompanied by a spiritual advisor in the execution chamber.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
Tahina Corcoran — who described herself as the inmate’s wife — along with federal defense attorney Larry Komp, filed the lawsuit on Joseph’s behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Tahina and Joseph were married in 2004, according to state marriage records, but a 2007 dissolution is on file in Allen County.
IDOC’s Commissioner Christina Reagle and Chief Legal Officer Anna Quick, as well as Indiana State Prison Warden Ron Neal, are named as defendants.
In the filing, Komp describes his client as a “lifelong practicing Christian who meets regularly with his spiritual advisor,” Rev. David Leitzel, a Wesleyan minister.
Leitzel’s relationship with Corcoran “spans decades,” from when he was a child to now,” Komp according to the lawsuit.
IDOC denies chamber access
In contention, however, is a letter sent by Komp, on Corcoran’s behalf, to IDOC on Nov. 18, in which he requested “religious accommodation” Corcoran’s execution.
Specifically, the death row inmate’s lawyer asked to have Leitzel “be present in the execution chamber with a Bible, be permitted to pray with Mr. Corcoran, and be permitted to have limited physical contact with Mr. Corcoran by placing a hand on his shoulder or holding his hand until the execution is complete.”
Additionally, Komp requested that Leitzel be allowed to visit Corcoran in the days preceding the execution and the evening of Dec. 17.
“He would like to bring in a Bible for each visit and some form of communion for one of the visits,” Komp said in the November letter to IDOC. “The accommodation is necessary to confidentially seek spiritual guidance and comfort from Rev. Leitzel in these last days of Mr. Corcoran’s life.”
Quick responded on Dec. 2, indicating that Leitzel would be allowed to enter the Indiana State Prison to visit with Corcoran “at any time during the days leading up to the execution … as long as there are no emergent issues that would require IDOC to restrict visitation for the entire facility.”
Leitzel can bring his bible “to any visit that he wishes,” and items needed for communion can also be cleared, Quick said.
But on Dec. 17, per IDOC policy, all visits with Corcoran must end by 6 p.m., Quick said. She further denied Komp’s request that Leitzel be present in the execution chamber.
Quick pointed to the section of Indiana Code outlining execution guidelines, and emphasized that “all persons assisting the Warden with an execution are to remain confidential and anonymous.”
“IDOC takes the anonymity of our staff very seriously and will not permit an outside person in the death chamber, as the safety, security and secrecy of those staff could be compromised,” Quick continued.
Still, she noted that Corcoran can have Leitzel “be his last visitor, if that is what he wishes,” on the evening before the scheduled execution.
State law says only certain people may witness an execution: the state’s prison warden and designees, the prison physician and another doctor, the prison chaplain, the condemned’s spiritual adviser, a maximum of five friends or family members of the condemned, and a maximum of eight family members — at least 18 years old — of the victims or victims.
The law limits the latter witnesses to direct family members: children, parents, grandparents or siblings.
But they will be on the other side of a glass window.
The statute dates back to 1983 but was amended in 2002 to keep executioners’ identities confidential and let wardens keep out dangerous witnesses, and in 2006 to reduce the number of the condemned prisoners’ loved ones and to add victims’ families.
Last-ditch appeal efforts
Komp pushed back, saying the “logical extension” of the state agency’s denial “is that spiritual advisors are banned from the execution chamber for all who are to be executed because presumably, the IDOC’s concerns about safety, security and secrecy would be present during all executions.”
The lawyer said that by precluding all spiritual advisors from being present in the execution chamber, IDOC violates the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses “because the policy inhibits the practice of religious beliefs for those who are religious.”
Referenced in Komp’s arguments is a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ramirez v. Collier, which gave death row inmates the right to have a spiritual advisor present in the execution chamber with them. Per the ruling, a spiritual advisor is allowed to audibly pray and place their hands on the prisoner as the execution proceeds, as long as they don’t interfere with the execution.
Komp is now requesting that a federal judge allow Leitzel entry “to ensure [Corcoran] is executed only in a manner that does not substantially burden the exercise of his religious beliefs,” nor violate his Constitutional rights.
Corcoran’s execution is currently scheduled to take place before sunrise on Dec. 18. Although his legal team is fighting to stay his execution — and get permission to litigate late-term post-conviction review — the inmate told Indiana Supreme Court justices last month that he has “no desire nor wish[es] to engage in further appeals or litigation whatsoever.”
Last week, the state’s high court denied requests by Corcoran’s lawyers to delay his impending execution date and allow for his case to be reviewed or his sentence overturned. Defense attorneys said they’re still hopeful that appeals at the state and federal levels will be successful — and at minimum, push the execution date back.
So far, Corcoran has been unwilling to sign the necessary paperwork to initiate a clemency review or other avenues that could result in his removal from death row.
The inmate’s attorneys point to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and delusions that he has about ultrasound machines controlling him and his thoughts. But attorneys for the state say he is competent to be put to death.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has adamantly rejected requests to put the execution on hold.
It will be the first state execution since 2009 after officials finally obtained the drug necessary to carry out the lethal injection.
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
