The fate of convicted quadruple murderer Joseph E. Corcoran, who was originally sentenced to death, is still unclear as his case continues to circle the legal system.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the federal appeals court failed to examine all arguments in Corcoran's challenge to his death sentence. To remedy this, the Supreme Court is sending the case back to the appeals court for a new ruling.

A jury found Corcoran guilty in 1999 of shooting to death his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister's fiance, Robert Scott Turner, 32; Timothy G. Bricker, 30; and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30, while at a Bayer Avenue home. The 1997 shootings occurred after Corcoran, 22 at the time, became upset because he thought he overheard the victims talking about him.

That same year, Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull sentenced Corcoran to death. Even though Corcoran asked to waive his rights to an appeal, in death-penalty sentences the case is automatically appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court.

After more back-and-forth talks, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the original death sentence, but it didn't stop there.

Corcoran had decided too late that he did not want to waive his rights to an appeal anymore, and the Indiana Supreme Court again upheld the death penalty. But Corcoran took his plea to the federal level.

In a petition, Corcoran had argued that the Indiana trial court committed various errors at the sentencing phase; that his sentence violated the Sixth Amendment's right to due process; that Indiana's capital sentencing statute was unconstitutional; that the prosecution committed misconduct at sentencing; and that he should not be executed because he suffers from a mental illness, according to court documents.

Despite trying to waive his rights to an appeal again, the late U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp ruled that prosecutors violated Corcoran's constitutional rights by offering him a plea deal in which he could give up his rights to a jury trial in exchange for them dropping the death penalty. He said the case needed to be re-sentenced without the death penalty.

An appeal by the Indiana Attorney General's Office brought the case to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which reinstated the death penalty in December. The court said at the time that Corcoran's rights were not violated when he was offered the plea deal and he was mentally competent when he waived his rights to have a court review his death sentence.

According to court documents, the appeals court set down its ruling without considering Corcoran's two other claims that there were errors by the court in the sentencing phase and that Indiana's sentencing statute is unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court said either the court should have given the other claims to the U.S. District Court for consideration or it should have explained why consideration of his other claims was unnecessary, according to court documents.

The case is now back in the hands of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which will either decide to rule itself or pass judgment to the lower U.S. District Court. Bryan Corbin, spokesman for Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, said it could take weeks or months to make that decision, which is a bit of a letdown for the Attorney General's Office.

“We are pleased that the court upheld that (the appeals court ruling) is constitutional,” Corbin said. “But we are disappointed that additional litigation is needed before this process is concluded.”

In 1992, at age 17, Corcoran was acquitted in Steuben County of the shooting deaths of his parents, Jack and Kathryn, at their Ball Lake home.