Judge: Indiana man convicted of killing 4 can appeal

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A northeastern Indiana man who has been on Indiana’s death row for 14 years for fatally shooting his brother and three other men has been cleared to ask the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to set aside his death sentence.

The Journal Gazetteof Fort Wayne reported Friday U.S. District Judge Jon DeGuilio in South Bend reversed an earlier ruling barring 37-year-old Joseph Corcoran from filing a fourth appeal.

Previously Corcoran’s lawyers failed to convince DeGuilio to appeal a fourth time.

This time, Corcoran’s attorneys argued that the 7th Circuit never ruled on whether Allen County Judge Fran Gull improperly weighed the factors against him with those in his favor when she sentenced him in 1999.

Corcoran’s lawyers say he was mentally ill.