Entries tagged with “Thomas Creech”

Upcoming Executions

,

Methods of Execution

,

Botched Executions

,

Clemency

,

Prosecutorial Accountability

,

Arbitrariness

,

Nov 07, 2024

Idaho: Federal Judge Grants Stay of Execution for Thomas Creech; Defense Asks Court to Bar Death Penalty for Bryan Kohberger

After sur­viv­ing a botched exe­cu­tion attempt in February, Thomas Creech was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion a sec­ond time on November 13 in Idaho. On Wednesday, November 6, a fed­er­al dis­trict court issued a stay of exe­cu­tion to allow more time to con­sid­er Mr. Creech’s legal claims. The Idaho Department of Corrections announced that ​“exe­cu­tion prepa­ra­tions have been sus­pend­ed” and the exe­cu­tion war­rant will…

Clemency

,

Nov 01, 2024

Prisoners With Executions Dates in South Carolina and Idaho File Requests for Clemency

Attorneys for South Carolina death row pris­on­er Richard Moore (pic­tured) filed a clemen­cy peti­tion with Governor Henry McMaster, ask­ing him to com­mute his sen­tence to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Mr. Moore has gar­nered sup­port from a wide range of indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing the for­mer direc­tor of South Carolina Department of Corrections Jon Ozmint. In a let­ter to Gov. McMaster, Mr. Ozmint writes about how Mr. Moore’s ​“sto­ry of redemp­tion” and good behav­ior will allow him to…

Methods of Execution

,

Botched Executions

,

Lethal Injection

,

Oct 17, 2024

Idaho Amends Lethal Injection Execution Protocol and Sets Second Execution Date for Thomas Creech

On October 15, 2024, the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) 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. IDOC now has a new exe­cu­tion prepa­ra­tion room in which venous access would be estab­lished pri­or to trans­fer­ring the pris­on­er to the exe­cu­tion cham­ber. This change, and accom­pa­ny­ing prison ren­o­va­tions this past sum­mer, came after the February 28, 2024 failed exe­cu­tion of…

Executions

Methods of Execution

,

Botched Executions

,

Sep 10, 2024

Idaho Court Dismisses Longest-Serving Death Row Prisoner’s Post-Conviction Claim Against a Second Execution Attempt

On September 5, 2024, Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District Court dis­missed death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Thomas Creech’s post-con­vic­tion claim, which sought to pre­vent a sec­ond exe­cu­tion attempt on the grounds that it would vio­late the Fifth Amendment’s dou­ble jeop­ardy clause, Eighth Amendment’s pro­hi­bi­tion against cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment, and equiv­a­lent state con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­vi­sions. The state’s first attempt to exe­cute Mr. Creech on February 28, 2024 was halt­ed because cor­rec­tion­al staff…

Executions

Lethal Injection

,

Jul 11, 2024

NPR Investigation Reveals Supplier of Texas Execution Drugs Has Multiple Drug Enforcement Agency Violations; Questions Remain Regarding Drug Acquisition in Other States

A July 10, 2024, National Public Radio (NPR) inves­ti­ga­tion has revealed that Rite Away, a small chain of phar­ma­cies locat­ed around San Antonio and Austin, Texas, com­pound­ed and pro­vid­ed pen­to­bar­bi­tal for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) between 2019 and late 2023 to car­ry out lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions. During the same time peri­od, records at the Texas Board of Pharmacy and fed­er­al Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) indi­cate the phar­ma­cy was cit­ed for mul­ti­ple safe­ty and…

Executions

Lethal Injection

,

Jun 06, 2024

Idaho: New Death Sentence, Updates on Executions, and Lethal Injection Drug Purchase

On June 1, 2024, an Idaho jury sen­tenced Chad Daybell to death for the 2019 mur­ders of his first wife and his sec­ond wife’s two youngest chil­dren. Mr. Daybell plead­ed not guilty to mul­ti­ple first-degree mur­der, fraud, and con­spir­a­cy charges, but after being found guilty, he chose to waive his right to present mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence dur­ing his sen­tenc­ing hear­ing. With this deci­sion, Mr. Daybell declined the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­vide the jury with rea­sons why he should not be sen­tenced to death.

Policy Issues

Human Rights

,

International

,

Mar 06, 2024

Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: Afghanistan, China, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United States, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe

In the after­math of Idaho’s failed exe­cu­tion of Thomas Creech and Texas’ exe­cu­tion of Ivan Cantu on February 28, the European Union released a state­ment express­ing its regret and reit­er­at­ing its unequiv­o­cal oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty.. “[The death penal­ty] is a vio­la­tion of the right to life and fails to act as a deter­rent to crime. It rep­re­sents the ulti­mate pun­ish­ment that makes mis­car­riages of jus­tice irre­versible,” said the state­ment. “[W]e are con­cerned by the fact that the number…

Executions

Methods of Execution

,

Botched Executions

,

Lethal Injection

,

Feb 29, 2024

Idaho Halts First Lethal Injection Execution in 12 Years After Failure to Establish I.V. Lines

Thomas Creech’s February 28 exe­cu­tion was halt­ed after the Idaho Department of Correction exe­cu­tion team was unable to set an intra­venous line after an hour of repeat­ed attempts. Mr. Creech remained strapped to the gur­ney and con­scious while unsuc­cess­ful attempts were made to access veins in both arms and legs. Officials did not dis­close why the exe­cu­tion team was unable to estab­lish an IV line, but the train­ing and qual­i­fi­ca­tions of staff, as well as the acces­si­bil­i­ty and qual­i­ty of Mr.

Facts & Research

Clemency

,

Feb 13, 2024

Idaho Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution to State’s Longest Serving Death Row Prisoner Ahead of Feb 28 Execution Date

On February 9, 2024, the Idaho Supreme Court unan­i­mous­ly dis­missed two state appeals for 73-year-old Thomas Creech, there­by deny­ing his requests for a stay of exe­cu­tion. Mr. Creech, who has been on death row for more than 40 years, has also request­ed a new clemen­cy hear­ing. He is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion on February 28, which would be Idaho’s first exe­cu­tion since…

Facts & Research

Clemency

,

Jan 25, 2024

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…