Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, announced Wednesday that the state will put a convicted killer to death, which will mark the state's first execution in 15 years, after acquiring a drug used for lethal injections.

Holcomb said he and state Attorney General Todd Rokita, also a Republican, are seeking to carry out the death penalty for 49-year-old Joseph Corcoran, who was convicted for killing four people in 1997.

Corcoran exhausted his federal appeals in 2016 and has been awaiting execution, according to Holcomb.

"After years of effort, the Indiana Department of Correction has acquired a drug — pentobarbital — which can be used to carry out executions," the governor said in a statement. "Accordingly, I am fulfilling my duties as governor to follow the law and move forward appropriately in this matter."

OKLAHOMA DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED FOR DOUBLE KILLING AFTER 3 LAST WORDS

Rokita filed a motion Wednesday urging the state Supreme Court to set an execution date.

Indiana's last execution was in 2009, when Matthew Eric Wrinkles was put to death for killing his wife, her brother and her sister-in-law, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The state has eight people on death row, the Death Penalty Information Center said.

The 15-year pause in executions has been attributed to the unavailability of lethal injection drugs, but now the state's Department of Correction has possession of the sedative pentobarbital, a drug used by multiple states in lethal injections. It is unclear how the state acquired the drug.

"In Indiana, state law authorizes the death penalty as a means of providing justice for victims of society’s most heinous crimes and holding perpetrators accountable," Rokita said. "Further, it serves as an effective deterrent for certain potential offenders who might otherwise commit similar extreme crimes of violence." 

"Now that the Indiana Department of Correction is prepared to carry out the lawfully imposed sentence, it's incumbent on our justice system to immediately enable executions in our prisons to resume," Rokita continued.

Attorney Larry Komp, who's Corcoran's federal defender, said they will respond to the state's motion and ask for clarity on the state's lethal injection protocol.

Some states are looking for new ways to carry out executions since the drugs used in lethal injections, the most common execution method in the U.S., are becoming more difficult to find.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT IS 'DEEPLY TROUBLED' BY ALABAMA'S EXECUTION OF MAN USING NITROGEN GAS

Earlier this year, Alabama became the first state to use nitrogen gas for an execution when it carried out the death penalty for convicted killer Kenneth Smith. The execution method, which has been criticized for being inhumane and a form of torture, killed Smith after he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints before several minutes of heavy breathing until breathing was no longer perceptible.

Corcoran is being held at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to Department of Correction records. He has been on death row since 1999.

He was convicted in the July 1997 killings of his 30-year-old brother, James Corcoran, as well as 30-year-old Douglas A. Stillwell, 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner and 30-year-old Timothy G. Bricker.

In 2020, the first federal execution in 17 years at the time was carried out at a federal prison in Indiana.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Texas death row inmate Ramiro Gonzales was executed by lethal injection Wednesday, despite numerous appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, for the 2001 murder and rape of a teenage woman.

Gonzales was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. following a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. His execution comes after he admitted to fatally shooting 18-year-old Bridget Townsend, a southwest Texas woman whose remains were found nearly two years after she vanished in 2001.

ALABAMA INMATE SET FOR SECOND-EVER NITROGEN GAS EXECUTION SUES: ‘PAIN AND DISGRACE’

In a statement released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Gonzales repeatedly apologized to the victim’s family from the execution chamber.

"I can’t put into words the pain I have caused y’all, the hurt, what I took away that I cannot give back. I hope this apology is enough," he said.

"I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have this opportunity to apologize. I owe all of you my life and I hope one day you will forgive me," he added.

Townsend, who would have turned 41 this year, was kidnapped from her home in January 2001 and sexually assaulted by Gonzales before he murdered her.

Her body wasn’t found until October 2002, when Gonzales led authorities to her remains in southwest Texas after he had received two life sentences for kidnapping and raping another woman.

OKLAHOMA DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED FOR DOUBLE KILLING AFTER 3 LAST WORDS

"We have finally witnessed justice being served," Townsend’s brother, David, said after watching the execution. "This day marks the end of a long and painful journey for our family. For over two decades, we have endured unimaginable pain and heartache."

David said Gonzales’ death "provides us a little bit of peace. I do want to say we are not joyous, we are not happy. This is a very, very sad day for everyone all the way around."

Gonzales’ attorneys, Thea Posel and Raoul Schonemann, previously made requests asking the board to change his death sentence to a lesser penalty.

"He has earnestly devoted himself to self-improvement, contemplation, and prayer, and has grown into a mature, peaceful, kind, loving, and deeply religious adult. He acknowledges his responsibility for his crimes and has sought to atone for them and to seek redemption through his actions," Gonzales’ lawyers wrote in a request to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

Earlier this month, a group of 11 evangelical leaders from Texas and around the country asked the parole board and Gov. Greg Abbott to halt the execution and grant clemency.

On Monday, the parole board voted 7-0 against commuting Gonzales’ death sentence to a lesser penalty. Members also rejected granting him a six-month reprieve.

Gonzales’ execution was the second this year in Texas and the eighth in the U.S. 

On Thursday, Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Richard Rojem for the 1984 abduction, rape and killing of a 7-year-old girl.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.