Idaho

History of the Death Penalty

The death penal­ty was estab­lished in Idaho in 1864, before state­hood. Since 1864, Idaho has car­ried out 29 exe­cu­tions. In 1901, exe­cu­tions were moved to Idaho’s state prison. Prior to that, exe­cu­tions were car­ried out on a coun­ty lev­el, and were often pub­lic. Idaho’s last hang­ing was con­duct­ed in 1957.

Timeline

1864 — Idaho estab­lish­es the death penal­ty pri­or to statehood.

1901 — Idaho exe­cu­tions are moved to Idaho’s state prison. Previously, exe­cu­tions were car­ried out on a coun­ty lev­el and were often public events.

1957 — Idaho car­ries out the state’s last hanging execution.

1973 — Capital pun­ish­ment is rein­stat­ed in Idaho after the Supreme Court struck down all death penal­ty statutes across the coun­try in Furman v. Georgia.

1994 — Idaho exe­cutes Keith Wells by lethal injec­tion in the state’s first exe­cu­tion in 36 years.

2001 — Charles Fain’s mur­der con­vic­tion is vacat­ed after DNA test­ing excludes him from the crime. He spent 18 years on death row.

2003 — Governor Dirk Kempthorne signs a bill to shift the respon­si­bil­i­ty of impos­ing the death penal­ty from judges to juries.

2011 — Paul Rhoades is exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion in Idaho. This was the first exe­cu­tion in Idaho in 17 years.

2012 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rules that wit­ness­es should have full view­ing-access to exe­cu­tions car­ried out in Idaho, sid­ing with the Associated Press and oth­er media outlets.

2019 — Idaho runs out of of drugs need­ed for lethal injec­tion after a short­age prompt­ed by major phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies refus­ing to sell drugs to states if those drugs will be used in executions.

2022 — Governor Brad Little signs a bill that boosts the veil of secre­cy over drugs used for exe­cu­tions in the state. Under this bill, Idaho offi­cials can­not share where and how they acquired drugs used in lethal injection executions.

2023 — Governor Brad Little signs a bill allow­ing exe­cu­tion by fir­ing squad amidst a nation­wide short­age of lethal injec­tion drugs. Under this bill, fir­ing squads will be used if the state can­not obtains the drugs nec­es­sary for lethal injections.

2024 — On February 28, 2024, the state of Idaho fails to exe­cute Thomas Creech. After an hour of attempts to estab­lish an IV-line to push the lethal injec­tion drugs, Department of Corrections offi­cials call off the execution.

2024 — In October 2024, Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) announces it amend­ed its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and facil­i­ties to enable staff to place a cen­tral intra­venous line, if nec­es­sary, to deliv­er lethal injec­tion drugs to a pris­on­er. Renovations to the F Block unit at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution to cre­ate an exe­cu­tion prepa­ra­tion room cost an esti­mat­ed $313,915, accord­ing to IDOC pub­lic infor­ma­tion offi­cer Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic.

Notable Cases

Donald Paradis spent 14 years on death row in Idaho before his mur­der con­vic­tions were over­turned and he was released from prison. Two mur­ders were com­mit­ted in Paradis’ home in Washington, but he was not present at the time. When he returned home and found the two bod­ies, he helped trans­port them across the state line to Idaho. Although Paradis was acquit­ted of the mur­ders in Washington, a med­ical exam­in­er sug­gest­ed that one of the vic­tims may have been killed in Idaho, and Paradis was tried and con­vict­ed there. Paradis’ lawyer had nev­er stud­ied crim­i­nal law or tried a case before a jury, and he was work­ing as a police offi­cer at the same time he was rep­re­sent­ing Paradis. In 2001, Paradis plead­ed guilty to mov­ing the bod­ies after the mur­der. He was sen­tenced to 5 years and released on time served.

Notable Exonerations

Charles Fain was con­vict­ed of mur­der in 1983. Several wit­ness­es tes­ti­fied that Fain was liv­ing in Oregon at the time of the crime, and that he only returned to Idaho the fol­low­ing month. Fain agreed to pro­vide hair sam­ples to inves­ti­ga­tors, and an FBI expert tes­ti­fied that the sam­ples matched evi­dence from the crime scene. New DNA test­ing meth­ods used in 2001 not only exclud­ed Fain as a sus­pect, but point­ed to two oth­er sus­pects. Fain’s con­vic­tion was vacat­ed, and pros­e­cu­tors stat­ed that ​“jus­tice requires the action we have tak­en today,” indi­cat­ing that the inves­ti­ga­tion for the killer would be re-opened.

Milestones in Abolition/​Reinstatement

In 1864, the year after Idaho became a ter­ri­to­ry, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Idaho estab­lished the death penal­ty. The first ter­ri­to­r­i­al exe­cu­tion occurred the same year.

Capital pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed in Idaho on July 7, 1973, after the United States Supreme Court struck down all death penal­ty statutes across the coun­try in the 1972 Furman v. Georgia deci­sion.

Resources

• Department of Corrections
• Prosecutors
• ACLU Idaho
• Victims’ ser­vices
• Idahoans Against the Death Penalty

Idaho Execution Totals Since 1976