INDIANAPOLIS — The recent execution of convicted murderer Joseph Corcoran has sparked a conversation about the death penalty in the state of Indiana. In the upcoming 2025 legislative session, lawmakers will have a decision to make whether to abolish the death penalty.
"Since we aren't using it as often as we probably were decades and decades ago it makes sense to move away from that entirely to save the taxpayers some money,” Denise Turner, a local attorney of law said.
Turner has worked on several capital punishment cases throughout her career. She says death penalty cases take longer to work their way through the legal system and cost more money.
"Litigating and preparing and trying a case what the research shows particularly in Indiana is that a death penalty case costs 10 times as much as a life without parole case,” Turner said.
House Bill 1030 would do a few different things. It would end the use of the death penalty, convert current death penalty sentences to life in prison without chance of parole, and stop the construction of the new death chamber at the Westville Correctional Facility.
"We hope that the General Assembly sees that nothing is lost by removing the powers of the state to take someone's life when there is no reason to do so,” David Frank the President of the Indiana Abolition Coalition said.,
Frank’s organization has been advocating to abolish capital punishment since the ‘90s. They joined faith leaders from across the state to deliver a letter to Governor Eric Holcomb asking him to stop the execution of Joseph Corcoran. While that effort failed the organization is hopeful the bill will pass.
"We are overjoyed to see the introduction of that bill,” Frank said.
We reached out to the lawmaker who authored the bill for comment but they were unavailable. We also reached out to Governor-Elect Mike Braun. While he didn’t comment specifically on the bill, in the past he said the following.
“All life is precious, and the death sentence is a very serious penalty reserved for those guilty of the most heinous of crimes. I trust Hoosier jurors and judges to understand the gravity of the sentence and hand it down when appropriate.”
The first day of the legislative session is January 8th.
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