Death row inmate Joseph Corcoran app whose execution is scheduled for next week app filed a civil rights complaint in federal court on Monday against Indianaapps Department of Correction after the agency rejected his request to be accompanied by a spiritual adviser in the execution chamber.
Tahina Corcoran app who described herself as the inmateapps wife app along with federal defense attorney Larry Komp, filed the lawsuit on Josephapps 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.
Two from the Indiana Department of Correction, Commissioner Christina Reagle and Chief Legal Officer Anna Quick, are named as defendants, as is Indiana State Prison Warden Ron Neal.
In the filing, Komp describes his client as a applifelong practicing Christian who meets regularly with his spiritual advisor,app the Rev. David Leitzel, a Wesleyan minister.
Leitzelapps relationship with Corcoran appspans decades,app from when he was a child to now,app Komp according to the lawsuit.
State denies chamber access
In contention, however, is a letter sent by Komp, on Corcoranapps behalf, to IDOC on Nov. 18, in which he requested appreligious accommodationapp to Corcoranapps execution.
Specifically, the death row inmateapps lawyer asked to have Leitzel appbe 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.app
Additionally, Komp requested that Leitzel be allowed to visit Corcoran in the days preceding the execution and the evening of Dec. 17.
appHe would like to bring in a Bible for each visit and some form of communion for one of the visits,app Komp said in the November letter to IDOC. appThe accommodation is necessary to confidentially seek spiritual guidance and comfort from Rev. Leitzel in these last days of Mr. Corcoranapps life.app
Quick responded on Dec. 2, indicating that Leitzel would be allowed to enter the Indiana State Prison to visit with Corcoran appat any time during the days leading up to the execution app as long as there are no emergent issues that would require IDOC to restrict visitation for the entire facility.app
Leitzel can bring his Bible appto any visit that he wishes,app and items needed for communion can also be cleared, Quick said.
But on Dec. 17, per Department of Correction policy, all visits with Corcoran must end by 6 p.m., Quick said. She further denied Kompapps request that Leitzel be present in the execution chamber.
Quick pointed to the section of outlining execution guidelines, and emphasized that appall persons assisting the Warden with an execution are to remain confidential and anonymous.app
appIDOC 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,app Quick continued.
Still, she noted that Corcoran can have Leitzel appbe his last visitor, if that is what he wishes,app on the evening before the scheduled execution.
State law says : the stateapps prison warden and designees, the prison physician and another doctor, the prison chaplain, the condemnedapps spiritual adviser, a maximum of five friends or family members of the condemned, and a maximum of eight family members app at least 18 years old app of the victim 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.
Last-ditch appeals
Komp pushed back, saying the applogical extensionapp of the state agencyapps denial appis that spiritual advisors are banned from the execution chamber for all who are to be executed because presumably, the IDOCapps concerns about safety, security and secrecy would be present during all executions.app
The lawyer said that by precluding all spiritual advisors from being present in the execution chamber, IDOC violates the First Amendmentapps establishment and free exercise clauses appbecause the policy inhibits the practice of religious beliefs for those who are religious.app
Referenced in Kompapps arguments is a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 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 donappt interfere with the execution.
Komp is now requesting that a federal judge allow Leitzel entry appto ensure (Corcoran) is executed only in a manner that does not substantially burden the exercise of his religious beliefs,app nor violate his Constitutional rights.
Corcoranapps execution is scheduled to take place . Although his legal team is fighting to stay his execution app and get permission to litigate late-term post-conviction review app the inmate that he has appno desire nor wish(es) to engage in further appeals or litigation whatsoever.app
Last week, the stateapps high court denied requests by Corcoranapps lawyers to delay his impending execution date and allow for his case to be reviewed or his sentence overturned. Defense attorneys said theyappre still hopeful that appeals at the state and federal levels will be successful app and at minimum, push the execution date back.
So far, Corcoran has the necessary paperwork to initiate a clemency review or other avenues that could result in his removal from death row.
The inmateapps attorneys point to a and delusions that he has about ultrasound machines controlling him and his thoughts.
But attorneys for the state say he is
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 pentobarbital, a drug necessary to carry out the lethal injection.
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