Pines bank robber awaiting execution dies in federal prison

Odell Corley, also known as Nasih Khalil Ra’id, was found unresponsive Friday morning at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, officials said.

According to BOP, life-saving efforts by prison personnel and emergency medical services were unsuccessful, and Corley was pronounced dead.

No prison employees or other incarcerated individuals were injured and the public never was at risk in connection with Corley’s death, officials said.

According to court records, Corley, 59, was sentenced to be executed for fatally shooting Chandler Simpson, 59, of The Pines, and Kay Peckat, 51, of Michigan City, during an Aug. 27, 2002, holdup at the First State Bank of Porter on U.S. 12 in The Pines.

He also was convicted of severely wounding bank security officer Keith Hill of Valparaiso, who was left a quadriplegic, records show.

According to court records, Corley murdered Simpson and Peckat and permanently injured Hill within 29 seconds of entering the bank using a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Ultimately, Corley and his accomplices found the bank vault locked and they left with no money. A palm print on the bank counter left by Corley as he leaped over it indisputably linked Corley to the shooting, records show.

According to court records, Corley’s convictions and death sentence following a month-long jury trial in 2004 at the U.S. District Court in Hammond were affirmed by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

A long-delayed second round of appeals was pending at the time of Corley’s death, records show.

According to BOP, Corley was incarcerated at the Terre Haute prison — where federal executions are carried out — from July 12, 2005, until his death.