Bill K. Wilson, Superintendent, Indiana State Prison, Petitioner v. Joseph E. Corcoran (562 U.S. 1)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 8, 2010 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 562 U.S. 1 · 131 S. Ct. 13
- Decided
- November 8, 2010
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Federal courts may not issue writs of habeas corpus to state prisoners whose confinement does not violate federal law. Because the Court of Appeals granted the writ to respondent without finding such a violation, we vacate its judgment and remand. * H: * In 1997, respondent Joseph Corcoran shot and killed four men, including his brother and his sister’s fiance. An Indiana jury found him guilty of four counts of murder, found the statutory aggravating circumstance of multiple murders, and unanimously recommended capital punishment. The trial judge agreed and sentenced respondent to death. But on appeal, the Supreme Court of Indiana vacated the sentence out of concern that the trial judge might have violated Indiana law by relying partly on nonstatutory aggravating factors when imposing the death penalty. Corcoran v. State, 739 N. E. 2d 649, 657-658 (2000). When addressing respondent at sentencing, the trial court had remarked: “ ‘[T]he knowing and intentional murders of four innocent people is an extremely heinous and aggravated crime. ... I don’t think in the history of this county we’ve had a mass murderer such as yourself. It makes you, Mr. Corcoran, a very dangerous, evil mass murderer. And I am convinced in my heart of hearts, . . . if given the opportunity, you will murder again.’ ” Id., at 657 (quoting transcript). According to the Indiana Supreme Court, the…
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