Idaho’s longest-serving death row inmate to be executed next month
Share and Follow

An Idaho judge issued a death warrant on Thursday for the state’s longest-serving death row inmate, scheduling his execution for next month.

Thomas Creech was convicted of killing two people in Valley County in 1974 and sentenced to death row. But after an appeal that sentence was reduced to life in prison. Less than 10 years later, however, he was convicted of beating a fellow inmate to death with a sock full of batteries, and he was again sentenced to death in 1983.

The death warrant was issued by 4th District Judge Jason Scott Thursday afternoon, and the Idaho Department of Correction said Creech would be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 8.

YOUNGEST KNOWN TULSA RACE MASSACRE SURVIVOR DEAD AT 102

Idaho news graphic

Thomas Creech, Idaho’s longest-serving death row inmate, will receive a lethal injection on Nov. 8.

“The Department has secured the chemicals necessary to carry out an execution by lethal injection,” the department wrote in a press release.

Idaho prison officials have previously had trouble obtaining the chemicals used in lethal injections. The state repeatedly scheduled and canceled another inmate’s planned execution until a federal judge ordered prison leaders to stop. That inmate, Gerald Pizzuto Jr., has spent more than three decades on death row for his role in the 1985 slayings of two gold prospectors. He filed a federal lawsuit contending that the on-again, off-again execution schedule amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

Deborah Czuba, with the Federal Defender Services of Idaho, said her office was disappointed by the state’s decision to seek a death warrant for Creech, and promised to fight for his life by seeking clemency and challenging the quality of the execution drugs.

“Given the shady pharmacies that the State has obtained the lethal drugs from for the past two Idaho executions, the State’s history of seeking mock death warrants without any means to carry them out, and the State’s misleading conduct around its readiness for an execution, we remain highly concerned about the measures the State resorted to this time to find a drug supplier,” Czuba wrote in a press release.

Czuba said the state was focused on “rushed retribution at all costs,” rather than on the propriety of execution.

Share and Follow
You May Also Like
Hurricane Erick strengthens to major storm as Mexico's Pacific coast preps for its arrival

Hurricane Erick becomes a major storm as it heads towards Mexico’s Pacific coast – preparations underway.

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Hurricane Erick has intensified into a Category 3 major…
Trump has approved US attack plans on Iran but no final decision, sources say

Sources say Trump has authorized plans for a potential US attack on Iran, but a final decision has not been made

Following a meeting in the Situation Room on Tuesday, President Donald Trump…
Trump's 'Doomsday Plane' makes unusual trip as Iran war fears escalate

Unusual journey for Trump’s ‘Doomsday Plane’ amid rising Iran war tensions

President Donald Trump’s emergency command aircraft was caught making a mysterious flight…
Anthony Volpe's error in eighth sinks Yankees as losing skid hits six

New York Yankees on a six-game losing streak after Anthony Volpe’s eighth-inning error costs them the game

The Yankees finally broke their scoreless streak. As for their losing streak,…
Deadly listeria outbreak linked to chicken alfredo fettucine sold at Kroger and Walmart

Listeria outbreak from chicken alfredo pasta sold at Kroger and Walmart

A listeria food poisoning outbreak that has killed three people and led…
Christina Formella case: Scope of alleged student abuse revealed

Revealing the Scope of Alleged Student Abuse in the Christina Formella Case

Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of child abuse that may be…
Supreme Court rejects Texas's bid to axe nuclear waste storage site

The Supreme Court denies Texas’ attempt to remove nuclear waste storage facility

The Supreme Court rejected Texas’s bid to axe federal approval of a…
Delta unveils historic route flying to new country for the first time

Delta introduces a groundbreaking flight path to a country it has never flown to before

Delta has launched the first-ever nonstop flight route connecting Utah to Asia,…