Idaho officials on the state’s failed execution attempt

Idaho attempted to execute an inmate, one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates, on Wednesday, but the state was unable to carry it out.

Thomas Creech, 73, was convicted of five murders in three states: Idaho, Oregon and California. While serving a life sentence in an Idaho prison, Creech killed fellow inmate David Dale Jensen. For the murder of Jensen in 1981, Creech was sentenced to death.

The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office stated it’s suspected he may have been involved in other murders.

Creech’s execution was scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday. Around an hour and a half before the scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request to stay the execution.

Approximately an hour after the start of the execution, the medical team could not establish an IV line. According to a release from the Idaho Department of Corrections, the department’s director Josh Tewalt called off the execution and Creech was set to return to his cell. Subsequently, the death warrant will expire at 11:59 p.m.

The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to further inquiry from the Deseret News. A public information officer for the Idaho Department of Corrections referred the Deseret News to its updates page.

Following the attempted execution, Tewalt told media in a press conference posted online by KIFI Local News 8, that after a medical team assessed Creech in the morning, the team told officials they believed they would be able to establish IV access.

“Once Mr. Creech was escorted into the execution chamber and was strapped down, the medical team entered and attempted to establish IV access,” Tewalt said. “The team attempted eight times through multiple limbs and appendages to establish IV access consistent with IDOC’s policy.”

Tewalt explained that “it was a vein quality issue that made them not confident in their ability to administer chemicals through the IV site once established.”

“We don’t have an idea of time frames or next steps at this point. Those are things we will be discussing in the days ahead,” Tewalt said.

When Tewalt was asked if the state would use nitrogen gas, he said the state has two options for execution: lethal injection or firing squad. “We do not have the facilities or physical capabilities of carrying out firing squad.” He did not indicate if another execution warrant would be sought out.

Tewalt indicated he was confident the state could obtain the drugs necessary for lethal injection in the future.

Following the attempted execution, Creech’s lawyers filed a new motion to stay the execution in U.S. District Court. His lawyers claimed that the attempt shows the department’s “inability to carry out a humane and constitutional execution.”

“IDOC officials are experienced and well prepared for a variety of situations that can arise during lethal injection execution,” Gov. Brad Little said in a statement. “The team of professionals at IDOC was prepared for the possibility that medical professionals would not be able to access the inmate’s veins, a circumstance that has occurred in execution procedures elsewhere in the country.”

“The competent and qualified medical professionals present and IDOC officials were cautious and did the right thing in not moving forward with the execution. My office will remain in close communication with IDOC about next steps,” Little said.

The Federal Defender Services of Idaho, the organization that Creech’s defense lawyers are associated with, sent a statement via email to the Deseret News. “We are angered but not surprised that the State of Idaho botched the execution of Thomas Creech today.”

“This is precisely the kind of mishap we warned the state and the courts could happen when attempting to execute one of the country’s oldest death-row inmates,” the statement later continued.

A spokesperson for the Idaho Attorney General’s Office emailed a statement from Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador to the Deseret News. “Justice has now been delayed again, following the medical inability to execute Thomas Creech. Today is a sad day for the families of his victims, and a continuation of the pain they have endured for almost five decades.”

Labrador later continued in the statement, “Our duty is to seek justice for the many victims and their families who experienced the brutality and senselessness of his actions.”

ACLU of Idaho Executive Director Leo Morales said in a statement, “The failed execution of Thomas Creech calls attention to additional reasons why the government should not be in the business of executing people. The system is inhumane, cruel, traumatizing, and ineffective, all while spending millions of dollars in a process that could have instead provided relief to murdered victim’s families.”

Creech has previously sought for his sentence to be commuted down from death to life in prison without possibility of parole. The matter came before Idaho’s Commission of Pardons and Parole, which denied the commutation in a 3-3 vote.

Ahead of the commission’s vote, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office released a statement saying if the commission commuted Creech’s sentence, “he would go back into the general prison population where he would have more access to inmates, putting them at risk.”

Three commissioners had voted to recommend commutation of Creech’s death sentence. “The Commissioners do not believe Mr. Creech is worthy of mercy, but that the discretion of the Commission allows for grace to be given even when undeserved,” they wrote. They explained they came to their decision “based on the time that has elapsed since Mr. Creech committed this horrific crime” and a change in law requiring a jury not a judge to sentence a person to death.

Three other commissioners voted to deny commuting Creech’s death sentence, saying that “the Jensen family would not receive justice if Mr. Creech received clemency, and above all else that they deserve closure in this case.”

“This decision was based on the coldblooded nature of David Dale Jensen’s murder and the sheer number of victims that Mr. Creech has created over his lifetime,” the commissioners wrote, adding that “Mr. Creech was not interested in telling the truth about his additional crimes and violent history and was reluctant and unwilling to completely disclose the number of people he has killed.”

The Ada County Prosecutor’s office released a statement following the commission’s decision. “We are grateful for the time Mr. David Jensen’s family took to attend Mr. Creech’s commutation hearing, and for making their thoughtful victim impact statements.”

“Seeking the death penalty is not an easy decision or process,” the statement later said. “We continue to stand by the decision to seek the death penalty in this case. We particularly agree with the following statement from the Commission of Pardons and Parole in their written decision issued today: ‘If the Commission cannot uphold the death penalty, in this case, then the death penalty means nothing in the state of Idaho.’”

After the commission reached its decision, Little said in a release, “As governor, I have zero intention of taking any action that would halt or delay Creech’s execution. His lawful and just sentence must be carried out as ordered by the court. Justice has been delayed long enough.”