The US state of Indiana carried out its first execution in 15 years, executing a man whose lawyers said he was mentally ill and murdered four people, including his own brother, in 1997.

Joseph Corcoran, 49, was administered a lethal injection and pronounced dead early Wednesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, officials said.

His last words were: “That’s not true. Let’s get this over with,” a statement from the Indiana Department of Corrections said.

Cochran’s attorneys argued in court documents that death penalty The constitutional violation stemmed from his long-term paranoid schizophrenia, which included hallucinations and delusions that prevented him from understanding the seriousness of his crimes.

Cochran’s legal team said Cochran’s “long-standing and documented mental illness continues to plague him just as it did at the time of the 1997 crime.”

His attorney, Larry Kemp, said Cochran’s mental health issues were never properly evaluated.

“There was never a hearing to determine whether he was eligible for execution,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press. “If the law and due process are not followed, there is an absolute failure of the rule of law.”

More than two dozen people gathered outside the prison to protest and pray before his execution, the Indy Star reported.

The state has provided limited details about the execution and does not allow media witnesses under state law. However, Cochran chose as one of his witnesses a reporter from the Indiana Capital Register, the outlet’s editor Posted on X early Wednesday.

According to a recent report, Indiana and Wyoming are the only two states that do not allow members of the media to witness state executions Report from the Death Penalty Information Center.

In July 1997, Cochran went through a stressful time because his sister was getting married, which meant he had to move out of the home he shared with her and his brother in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

After he overheard his brother, James Corcoran, 30, talking about him, he loaded his rifle and shot his brother and three other men, including his sister, court documents say fiancé.

In 1992, Cochran’s parents were found shot to death in their home. Cochran had previously been acquitted of murdering his parents.

“Without any purpose”

Cochran’s sister, Kelly Ernst, tried to stop the execution and said she had forgiven him.

On December 2, she wrote on Facebook: “I believe the death penalty does not ease grief or provide true justice for victims and those suffering from mental illness.”

“Instead, it’s been a long, costly political process,” she added. “I believe his execution served no purpose.”

Cochran’s execution was the 24th in the United States this year. Indiana imposed a moratorium on executions in 2009 because the state could not obtain necessary drugs and pharmaceutical companies did not want to be associated with the death penalty.

But Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita (both Republicans) announced earlier this year that the state had obtained the drug — pentobarbital — and Executions will resume, starting with Corcoran’s.

Cochran sent a letter to the Indiana Supreme Court last month saying he no longer wanted to litigate his case.

Still, his lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking a stay of execution, but it was ultimately denied.

“Joseph Corcoran’s case has been reviewed repeatedly over the past 25 years, seven times by the Indiana Supreme Court and three times by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Holcomb said in a press release after the execution. times, most recently tonight.” Totally.

Rokita also released a statement saying Cochran “has finally paid his debt to society because the victims have received justice.”

Twenty-three of the 50 states in the United States have abolished the death penalty, and six other states (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) have a moratorium on executions.