December 5, 2024 // Diocese

Catholic Lawmaker Aims to Outlaw State Death Penalty

Nicole Hahn

Director of Secretariat for Communications

Indiana State Representative Bob Morris (R-Fort Wayne) officially filed legislation on Thursday, December 5, to repeal the state law regarding the imposition and execution of death sentences. He wants the law to change to state specifically that if a person is sentenced to death and is awaiting execution of that death sentence, that person’s death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Ultimately, Morris wants it to be state law that there is no possibility to sentence a person to death.

Morris also wrote a letter to Governor Eric Holcomb asking to delay the execution of any inmate on death row at least until January, when state lawmakers return to session and the General Assembly can consider his proposed legislation. Though the proposed legislation isn’t specific to any particular case, the timing is important because Indiana is set to perform its first execution in 15 years on Wednesday, December 18.

Joseph Corcoran, now 49, was convicted in 1997 of the murders of his brother, his sister’s fiancé, and two of their friends at his home in Fort Wayne. He was sentenced to death in 1999 and has been on death row since that time. Lawyers have continued to fight for a stay of execution. On Friday, December 6, according to public records on mycase.in.gov, the Indiana Supreme Court denied a motion to stay Corcoran’s execution. Records also indicate that a second motion was filed with the court the same day of the denial. On Monday, December 9, records show the Indiana Supreme Court issued its response, concluding the court should deny the second motion to stay the execution. At the time of this writing, the execution of Joseph Corcoran stands to take place on December 18.

Morris admitted he has had a change of heart about the death penalty throughout the past few years.

“I think it’s who I am,” Morris told Today’s Catholic. “Christ made me, and being a God-fearing person and the way my parents raised me, it’s something that being a legislator … and how Christ created me, and feeling very compelled … I’ve been trying to educate my fellow colleagues on where I’m at with ending capital punishment.”

Morris reached out to Bishop Rhoades for his counsel about the letter and about his change of heart.

“He and I have a good relationship,” Morris said. “So, I heard from Bishop Rhoades and the Catholic Conference of Bishops, and they are 100 percent behind me in the message and the mission,” Morris said. He added that he also has the backing of the Indiana Catholic Conference.

He told Today’s Catholic a story about one incident that affected him in this journey.

“It’s a Holy Spirit moment,” Morris said. “A good friend of the family, they lost a son, and Bishop Rhoades did the funeral and said during the petitions to pray for government leaders as they stand for life. So that, and hearing the word, hearing the homily, hearing the message, hearing the bishop’s words at the funeral … at that time really affected me. So, I’m carrying forward, pressing on. So that was maybe six, seven weeks ago.”

Morris also talked about how executions don’t just affect the person being executed.

“You know, it’s just not one life,” Morris said. “There’s a number of other lives that are being affected at our prisons as well. Think of the employees and the fact that they have to be a part of this act of execution and how it affects them. So, they can all appear like they’re good until you look at it and step back. That’s someone’s dad, someone’s brother, someone’s sister, so the people on the execution team are struggling in their own way.”

At the heart of it, Morris said, “I am living my faith, and I am standing for people and doing what I feel is the right thing to do.”

Morris still has hope that Governor Holcomb will stay executions until the legislation can be taken up in session in January.

Morris gave Today’s Catholic a copy of the letter he wrote to the governor detailing his former stance on capital punishment and his change of heart based on his faith, saying, “I believe only one position honors Our Lord and Savior, our Creator: to protect all human life.”

Read the full letter below.

Dear Governor:

I have been considering a matter that once was resolved in my heart – the matter of Indiana Capital Punishment. I have long supported the right – indeed the obligation – of the State to exact punishment in this extreme form. I always believed that it was the duty of the State to exact on earth a punishment that was just in the context of the committed crime. 

Over the course of the past several months, but especially over the past several weeks, I have been praying about this and I have been reading discourses from church leaders, historic figures, and philosophers. The recent Supreme Court decision to return the matter of abortion to each state and Indiana’s Special Session thereafter resulted in tremendous upheaval in my heart regarding the value of every human life. My view of this issue is driven by my faith. I believe only one position honors Our Lord and Savior, our Creator: to protect all human life.

Human life is sacred. It must be so. It is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God, and each life remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator. But life cannot be sacred in one instance and not sacred in another. If we begin deciding when life is sacred versus when it is not sacred, our culture finds only regret. Committed to the Truth regarding life as sacred, then we should also say that every human life exists by the holy will of God Almighty, and that sacredness extends from the moment of conception until the final natural breath.

But it is more than that. I have been considering the harm caused by the administration of Capital Punishment. Who are the people who transport the prisoner to be executed? Who escorts him to the execution room and seats the prisoner? Who manufactures the drugs that are to be administered? Who fills the syringe? Who injects the poison? Are not each of these unique individuals, by default, pulled into the act of the human execution? Execution is not an anonymous action. It involves many participants. In fact, a state which executes convicted criminals involves every citizen in the execution which is done in their name. This unnecessarily involves those who oppose capital punishment on religious grounds. In our society today, capital punishment of the imprisoned is not necessary in our day for the protection of the innocent citizens.

Furthermore, consider that the specific act of sentencing has changed substantially. In 2002, Indiana made a consequential change to the way in which capital crimes are sentenced. Prior to 2002, a judge alone decided the sentence. After 2002, a jury decided the sentence. I make no claim regarding a jury’s likelihood to sentence a convicted criminal to death. But the resolution of a group of one’s peers, tempered by more than one personal view, should be viewed as a moral improvement. Is the fate of prisoners on Indiana’s Death Row who were sentenced before 2002 marginalized because they were sentenced not by a jury of their peers but by a single man or woman acting as judge? Is their death sentence more or less just as the result of the sentencing process that has since been changed?   

To a degree, I discount this “judge vs. jury” issue because, in the final analysis, one man has no moral right to execute another man who is already subdued, convicted, and safely confined.

Some of the most celebrated writing of Western Civilization, which spans 2,500 years and includes greats such as Augustine of Hippo to John Paul II, agrees with the following: if a prisoner can be reliably confined and if the public is made safe, then execution is not an appropriate sentence. A life in state confinement does not have to be slothful or indulgent. Prisoners can be made to be active, productive, and to have meaningful discourse in a humane existence. This is a manner of punishment that fears God, that honors Him, and that maintains public safety.

I ask you, Governor Holcomb, to protect all Hoosiers from the consequences of error, from the consequences of continuing what was begun by others without thought, and from the irreparable moral damage resulting from imprudence and haste. You are given an opportunity to change course, at least temporarily. I pray that you have the courage and the wisdom to act boldly. If you do nothing more, it is enough to protect human life. All life. Today.

Please, at minimum, delay the execution of all Indiana capital punishment until after the General Assembly has reconvened and has had a chance to consider this grave matter.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Bob Morris