Indiana is one of two states with laws excluding the media from witnessing executions. The other, Wyoming, hasn’t executed anyone since 1992.
Indiana, however, executed Joseph Corcoran on Wednesday. Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Director of Advocacy Seth Stern, along with George Hale, who covers the death penalty for Indiana Public Media, wrote for the Indianapolis Star about Indiana’s “dubious honor of being the national standard bearer for taxpayer-funded secret killings.”
It turned out that a journalist was able to attend the execution, but only because Corcoran and his lawyer gave one of the seats reserved for friends and family to a journalist. The state shouldn’t put the onus on the condemned to ensure transparency around their own killing. The law needs to change.
Read the Indianapolis Star op-ed here and more on the topic from The Associated Press here.
