By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
The Idaho Department of Correction served a death warrant on Thursday to Thomas Creech, a man who has been on death row since 1983.
Fourth Judicial District Judge Jason Scott issued the warrant Thursday afternoon and the warrant schedules Creech’s execution for Nov. 8. IDOC reported in a press release that they do have the chemicals necessary to carry out an execution by lethal injection.
Creech, now 73, was sentenced to death for the fatal beating of David Dale Jensen, who was his fellow inmate in prison in 1981.
The state of Idaho does not require IDOC to disclose where the chemicals being used in an execution are obtained. Creech was party to a lawsuit against IDOC regarding the issue in 2020.
Deborah A. Czuba, Supervising Attorney for the Capital Habeas Unit of Federal Defender Services of Idaho, issued the following statement Thursday: “We are obviously disappointed by the State’s decision to seek a death warrant for Mr. Creech.
“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.
“The State continues to be focused on rushed retribution at all costs and by any means necessary, rather than careful consideration of the propriety of execution.
“We will be doing everything we can to fight for Mr. Creech’s life, including challenging the quality of the drugs and execution by lethal injection. We will also be seeking clemency to commute Mr. Creech’s death sentence to life without parole.”
