WASHINGTON (CN) — Idaho officials on Wednesday delayed the execution of one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates after a failed lethal injection attempt.
The delay came hours after the Supreme Court refused to delay the execution of Thomas Creech, a serial killer who has spent decades on death row.
Creech, 73, was sentenced to death for killing a fellow inmate, David Jensen, with a battery-filled sock. Creech was already serving time for four murders when he killed Jensen. He is suspected in over two dozen other murders.
Creech asked the Supreme Court to take emergency action to block his execution, arguing that he had never been sentenced to death by a jury of his peers. Instead, Creech’s sentence was handed down by a lone judge — a now-defunct practice.
The Supreme Court did not explain why it denied Creech’s application. There were no noted dissents.
Idaho had scheduled Creech's execution for Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time. But Idaho's prison director said the execution was halted after the medical team could not establish an IV line to administer the lethal injection — despite repeated attempts in various parts of Creech's body.
Creech's attorneys immediately filed for a new stay in federal court. "“Given the badly botched execution attempt this morning, which proves IDOC’s inability to carry out a humane and constitutional execution, undersigned counsel preemptively seek an emergency stay of execution to prevent any further attempts today," the attorneys said in the petition.
Idaho officials said the state's death warrant would expire and the Department of Corrections is considering its next steps.
Only five states allowed judge-sentencing when the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 2002. Since then, two of these states have stopped carrying out executions. Colorado abolished the death penalty and Arizona imposed a moratorium on executions. Less than 1% of death row inmates were sentenced to death by a judge, and only one of these executions has been carried out in the last 10 years.
Creech claimed these statistics demonstrate evolving standards of decency that warrant a review of whether judge-imposed death sentences violate the Eighth Amendment.
Creech asked an Idaho court to review his claim that a judge-sentenced man is barred from execution. The case was dismissed the next day. Creech appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court, which affirmed the lower court ruling.
At the Supreme Court, Creech asked for a review of the state’s post-conviction regime, arguing it gives little meaningful review to legitimate constitutional claims in violation of due process. Creech said this was an increasingly important question as the high court limits other avenues for relief.
“The question is more urgent now than it has ever been,” Jonah Horwitz, a public federal defender representing Creech, wrote in his brief. “Over the last several years, this court has in several important ways narrowed the access state prisoners have to federal habeas review over constitutional challenges to their convictions and sentences.”
Idaho claims the Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction to intervene in Creech’s case. The state reasons that Creech can still appeal to the state high court, which could still modify its decision. Those circumstances, in the state’s view, mean the case has not yet concluded and the justices do not yet have the ability to review the matter.
The state also claims that Creech’s case is not worth reviewing because he is merely asking for clarity on Idaho’s standard.
Creech has been connected to murders across the nation for decades. In 1974, Creech was working as a cook in an Arizona motel where the body of Paul Shrader was found stabbed. Creech was acquitted of charges in the case.
In 1974, Creech was working in an Oregon church when the body of William Joseph Dean was found in the building’s living quarters. A grocery store worker, Sandra Jane Ramsamooj, was shot the same day.
Creech was convicted of the deaths of John Wayne Bradford and Edward Thomas Arnold, who picked him and his girlfriend up while hitchhiking in Idaho. He was serving his life sentence for these murders when he killed Jensen.
There is some confusion about how many murders Creech may be responsible for, in part because of a drug-induced tale Creech told to his former defense attorney, Bruce Robinson. Robinson acquired the rights to Creech’s life story and got Creech to admit to committing 42 murders as part of a satanic motorcycle gang. Some of the people in Creech’s story never existed or were never killed.
Creech’s attorneys claim he has been falsely connected to the 1975 killing of Daniel Walker because of this tale. Creech told a detective that he killed a man in San Bernardino, including widely known details in Walker’s case.
In the same interview, Creech told detectives he dumped numerous bodies at a ranch after they had been sacrificed by a vegetarian cult. Officers conducted an extensive search and only located a single cow bone.
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