BOISE, Idaho – A federal judge in Idaho has done what the state courts would not: issue a stay of execution for Idaho’s longest-serving death row inmate, scheduled to die next week.
The State of Idaho planned to execute Thomas Creech on November 13. He’s has been convicted of five murders and is suspected of others.
In 1981, while serving two life sentences for murder, Creech killed a fellow inmate.
Creech survived an execution attempt in February, as the execution team was unable to establish in IV line through which to deliver the lethal chemicals.
In the time since, Creech has appealed his death sentence and asked for relief from the Idaho Supreme Court and the Idaho U.S. District Court. He contends the execution would qualify as cruel and unusual punishment. Creech’s defense attorneys also argue that it violates double jeopardy by punishing him twice for the same crime.
The state has denied all of those appeals, saying Creech cannot prove that his Constitutional rights are being violated. Tuesday, the Idaho Supreme Court denied his appeal.
On the same day, a federal judge called for a pause in the case.
District Court Judge G. Murray Snow ruled that he needs time to consider Creech’s writ of habeus corpus, to determine if his rights are being violated.
The judge wrote that Creech “is entitled to a ruling on the claim’s merits before he is executed.”
“Because the last reasoned state court decision… was issued just a week before Creech’s scheduled execution, a stay is necessary to allow the parties to fully brief, and for this Court to fully consider, Creech’s habeus claims,” wrote Judge Snow.
He set deadlines for later this month for Creech’s team and prosecutors to submit briefs in the case.
In a statement sent to 4 News Now, Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) said that because the arguments in the federal case aren’t due until November 29, the death warrant for Creech’s execution will expire.
According to Idaho death penalty procedures, Creech would have already been moved to an isolation cell once the death warrant was issued.
IDOC said Wednesday that because the death warrant will expire, Creech has been moved back to his previous housing assignment and the execution preparation has been suspended.
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
