By Melissa Davlin, Idaho Reports

The Idaho Department of Correction has announced its medical team could not establish an IV line during an attempt to execute Thomas Creech.

Creech has been returned to his cell, and his current death warrant will expire at 11:59 pm Wednesday.

Creech is on death row for the 1981 beating death of fellow inmate David Jensen.

During a press conference, IDOC Director Josh Tewalt said the medical team made eight attempts to establish an IV line in Creech’s hands, arms, legs, and feet. During some attempts, they couldn’t access a vein, Tewalt said. In others, they accessed poor quality veins that may not have withstood the injection attempt.

“We don’t have an idea of timeframes or next steps,” Tewalt said.

According to a U.S. Supreme Court filing from Tewalt, the state planned to use a single chemical pentobarbitol protocol, meaning the medical team would inject with a short-acting barbituate that acts as a sedative to stop his breathing. IDOC will not disclose where it purchased the chemicals.

Tewalt told reporters the state needs to acquire more lethal injection chemicals after this morning’s attempt, but added he didn’t think that would be a problem. He reiterated that he would not discuss the supplier.

Tewalt defended the medical team, saying they acted professionally by calling off the execution.

“I think it would be wrong to call it a failure,” Tewalt said. “They did their level best in a professional way that was respectful of the process.”

Media witnesses Rebecca Boone of the Associated Press, Brenda Rodriguez of KTVB, Scott McIntosh of the Idaho Statesman, and Roland Beres of KIVI shared their observations at the press conference. McIntosh said it didn’t appear that Creech was in extreme pain at any point, though he did tell the medical team he had some leg discomfort.

Federal Defender Services of Idaho, which represents Creech, said they were angered, but not surprised. “This is what happens when unknown individuals with unknown training are assigned to carry out an execution,” they said in a statement Wednesday. “This morning, they tried and failed 10 times to access Tom’s veins in both of his arms and both legs so they could inject him with the State’s mysteriously acquired pentobarbital. 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 in circumstances completely shielded in secrecy despite a well-known history of getting drugs from shady sources.”

“Yesterday, the State called Mr. Creech’s worries “patently absurd” in its motions to the U.S. Supreme Court,” the statement continued. “Unfortunately, what is absurd is Idaho’s continuing efforts to kill this harmless old man, who by this point surely has suffered enough”

In addition to Jensen, Creech was convicted of four other murders and admitted to multiple others, though defense attorneys believe some of his confessions were false or embellished. During a January clemency hearing, he either could not or would not say how many people he killed. Evidence has linked him to 11 deaths. 

Since the state secured lethal injection chemicals in October, Creech’s legal team made multiple attempts to halt the execution, including three appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court in the last week concerning Eighth Amendment arguments and the state’s secrecy surrounding procurement of lethal injection chemicals, his death penalty sentence without a jury, and an allegation of false evidence. The court denied all three appeals on Wednesday morning.

In the 12 years since Idaho executed Richard Leavitt, lawmakers have pursued multiple policy changes to make it easier to carry out executions, including:

• Changing the public records law to keep secret where Idaho obtains lethal injection chemicals, after the Idaho Department of Correction lost a public records lawsuit concerning information on executions;
• Adding the firing squad as a secondary execution method;
• Appropriating $850,000 to construct a firing squad facility;
• Introducing legislation this session to make lewd and lascivious conduct against minors punishable by the death penalty, despite US Supreme Court rulings that deemed unconstitutional executions for convictions other than murder and crimes against the state. That bill has passed the House and is awaiting a hearing in the Senate. 

The following state witnesses were also present:

• Jan Bennetts, Ada County Prosecutor
• Dodds Hayden, Board of Correction
• Jared Larsen, Governor’s office
• Matt Clifford, Ada County Sheriff
• Raúl Labrador, Attorney General
• Phil Skinner, AG Chief of Staff

On Wednesday, Gov. Brad Little released a statement saying he would continue to work with IDOC on the next steps.

“IDOC officials are experienced and well prepared for a variety of situations that can arise during lethal injection execution,” Little said in the 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.”

The ACLU of Idaho also released a statement, saying Wednesday’s events showed why the government shouldn’t execute 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. The ACLU of Idaho is against the death penalty in any situation, and today’s botched execution is just one additional reason,” said ACLU of Idaho Executive Director Leo Morales. “We urge the State to call off any further attempts at execution and instead commute Mr. Creech’s sentence to life in prison. Thomas Creech has consistently demonstrated signs of restitution, remorse, and contrition with his exemplary behavior for the past 30 years. Calling off any further attempts at execution is the right thing to do. No person should have to relive the trauma of what could potentially be another failed execution. Further attempts at execution will retraumatize all involved.”

Hours after leaving the facility, Labrador released a statement, saying justice had been delayed.

“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 wrote. “Those victims include, but are not limited to David Dale Jensen, Edward Thomas Arnold, John Wayne Bradford, Gordon Lee Stanton, Charles Thomas Miller, William Joseph Dean, Sandra Jane Ramsamooj, Rick Stewart McKenzie, and Vivian Grant Robinson.”
 
“Thomas Creech has told his story to a curious and accommodating media for 49 years,” Labrador continued. “However, time and again, he committed many cowardly and evil acts of violence.  Our duty is to seek justice for the many victims and their families who experienced the brutality and senselessness of his actions.”

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