Clemency Request for 73-Year-Old Death Row Prisoner in Idaho Has Support of Trial Judge and Prosecutor, Defense Presents Evidence of a Changed Man

On January 19, 2024, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole held a clemen­cy hear­ing for Thomas Creech, who has been on death row for near­ly 44 years. The Commission will now decide whether to rec­om­mend to Governor Brad Little that Mr. Creech’s death sen­tence be com­mut­ed to life in prison with­out parole. By law, the gov­er­nor is not required to fol­low the Commission’s rec­om­men­da­tion. Mr. Creech faced a sched­uled exe­cu­tion date in November 2023, but the Commission stayed the exe­cu­tion so that it could decide his clemen­cy request. Mr. Creech is also serv­ing a life sen­tence for a dou­ble mur­der com­mit­ted in 1974. Mr. Creech, now 73, was sen­tenced to death in 1981 and has spent more than half of his life on Idaho’s death row.

During Mr. Creech’s clemen­cy hear­ing, his defense attor­ney, Jonah Horwitz, told the Commission that his client is no longer the man he was in 1981. Focusing on the idea that the death penal­ty is meant to be reserved for the worst of the worst, Mr. Horwitz asked ​“whether the Tom Creech of 2023 is among the worst of the worst.” A video pre­sent­ed at the clemen­cy hear­ing high­light­ed Mr. Creech’s pos­i­tive impact on younger pris­on­ers, as well as his fam­i­ly and friends, includ­ing his wife, LeAnn Creech, who mar­ried Mr. Creech after being intro­duced to him by her son, a for­mer cor­rec­tions offi­cer. ​“He’s where he is because of things he did when he was younger, but that’s not the per­son I know now,” said Mrs. Creech. 

Mr. Horwitz also high­light­ed Mr. Creech’s near-per­fect dis­ci­pli­nary record that includes just one dis­ci­pli­nary write-up in 2022 for what he called a ​“mis­un­der­stand­ing over a card game.” Many for­mer Idaho Department of Corrections employ­ees con­firmed Mr. Creech’s exem­plary prison record, as well as his respect and coop­er­a­tive­ness with guards and prison staff. Kathy Niecko, a for­mer nurse at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, told the Commission that Mr. Creech had shown her a lev­el of grat­i­tude no oth­er pris­on­er has ever expressed. Ms. Niecko asked the Commission to ​“try to see [Mr. Creech] as the man he is now.” Mr. Horwitz also told the Commission that for­mer Ada County Prosecutor Jim Harris and for­mer Judge Robert Newhouse, both involved in Mr. Creech’s ini­tial tri­al, believe his sen­tence should be com­mut­ed. Judge Newhouse told Mr. Creech’s attor­neys that ​“no pur­pose would be served by exe­cut­ing [him] now” after more than 40 years of incar­cer­a­tion. That would ​“just be an act of vengeance,” not of justice.

In clos­ing, Mr. Creech read a poem to his younger self, and told the Commission that he is ​“very sor­ry for it… I’m sor­ry my actions, for every­thing I’ve done. It was wrong. I wish I could go back and change it.” Mr. Jensen’s fam­i­ly mem­bers closed out the hear­ing with tes­ti­mo­ny about the impact his mur­der had on them. They all encour­aged the Commission to deny Mr. Creech’s clemency request.

The Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Jill Longhurst cen­tered her case on Mr. Creech’s crim­i­nal record. Ms. Longhurst labelled Mr. Creech as a ​“sociopath” with ​“an utter dis­re­gard for human life” while walk­ing the Commission through his con­fes­sions to law enforce­ment. Ms. Longhurst argued that in 1981, Mr. Creech killed a med­ical­ly frag­ile pris­on­er named David Jensen so he could be placed in iso­la­tion. At tri­al, Mr. Creech claimed self-defense. ​“Thomas Creech hasn’t changed from the charm­ing, like­able, sociopath he’s always been,” Ms. Longhurst stat­ed in closing. 

A major­i­ty vote from the Commission is need­ed for Mr. Creech to receive a rec­om­men­da­tion in favor of clemen­cy. Just six mem­bers of the Commission attend­ed Mr. Creech’s hear­ing, with one mem­ber absent because of a pos­si­ble con­flict of inter­est. The Commission has only held two oth­er hear­ings of this kind. In 1996, Governor Phil Batt grant­ed clemen­cy to Donald Paradis based on inno­cence claims after the Commission vot­ed 3 – 2 to grant a life sen­tence. More recent­ly, in 2021, the Commission vot­ed 4 – 3 to grant death row pris­on­er Gerald Pizzuto a life sen­tence, but Governor Brad Little reject­ed the rec­om­men­da­tion. Mr. Pizzuto remains on Idaho’s death row despite terminal cancer.