Death row killer's execution abandoned as lethal injection bid fails to kill him

28 February 2024 , 18:30

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Serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech is the state of Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate (Image: AP)

The execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech has been delayed in the US state of Idaho after an attempt to administer the lethal injection failed.

Creech, who has been described as one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the US, was imprisoned in 1974 for a series of five murders across three states, though he is suspected of several more.

Having already been imprisoned for life for those murders, then beat a fellow inmate, 22-year-old David Dale Jensen, to death in 1981. That was the crime he was ultimately sentenced to death for, with his execution scheduled for 10am local time on Wednesday.

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Creech was imprisoned in 1974 for life after the double murder of two house painters (KIVI/ABC News)

But things didn't go as planned. The medical team could not establish an IV line that would allow them to administer the fatal drugs that would ultimately kill Creech. More than three members of the medical team reportedly tried to establish the line but failed, trying on both of Creech's arms and legs. It was an utter failure.

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The 73-year-old reportedly suffered for exactly 58 minutes on the table as the team desperately attempted to find veins to conduct the procedure. But despite attempts to find veins in the crook of both of Creech's arms, his hands, around his ankles and his feet, the team simply could not insert the IV.

It was reported that, at one point, the medical team moved the cart of supplies in front of the media witness window to partially obscure the team's efforts. A member of the team had to leave the chamber at one point to gather supplies, it was also reported.

Maya Foa, the director of the US branch of the nonprofit human rights group Reprieve, which advocates for the end of capital punishment, released a statement on Wednesday following the botched execution attempt.

"The butchery witnessed in Idaho today is yet another demonstration that, however much states try to hide it, the death penalty is inherently brutal," she wrote. "The head of Idaho’s Department of Corrections spoke about ‘dignity’ and ‘respect’ in carrying out the execution. If Idaho tries to kill Thomas Creech again, it will not only be stripping him of all dignity and respect: It will be denying his humanity. It is often said that for justice to be done, it must be seen to be done. Surely no one who witnessed this scene can feel that this institutionalised violence is just. When executions repeatedly go catastrophically wrong, across different states, using different methods, it is clear that capital punishment itself is broken."

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Creech was relegated to death row after he murdered another inmate in 1981 by beating him to death (KIVI/ABC News)

The gurney on which Creech lay was wheeled into the room at 10am sharp, and the warden announced the halting of the execution at 10.58am. The convict's attorneys immediately filed a motion for a stay in a US District Court, stating: "Given the badly botched execution attempt this morning, which proves IDOC's [the Idaho Department of Corrections] 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 filing came as IDOC stated that its death warrant for Creech, which allows the state to execute him on the date scheduled, would expire soon, and it's now considering next steps. Creech was set to be the first inmate executed in the state, located in the Pacific Northwest region of the US, in 12 years.

The attempt also came after Creech's attorneys filed numerous late appeals in attempts to commute the killer's sentence to simple life in prison without the possibility of parole — what is, in many states, the maximum penalty for even the most heinous of crimes. They attempted to argue that his clemency hearing was unfair, that his sentencing to death by a judge instead of a jury was unconstitutional and that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel throughout some of his early trials.

Creech's execution was scheduled for 10am local time on Wednesday at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution near Boise (KIVI/ABC News)

Judges from four different courts, however, did not find any grounds for leniency, it was reported, therefore allowing the sentence to stay in place and for the botched execution attempt to occur on Wednesday morning. It remains unclear when the next attempt to snuff out the death row inmate's life will be.

Witnessing the botched attempt were four news reporters and six Idaho officials, including Attorney General Raul Labrador. At the same time, around 15 protesters gathered outside the prison — the Idaho Maximum Security Institution located just south of the capital, Boise — to protest the execution, even launching into a rendition of "Amazing Grace" at one point.

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Creech was first imprisoned in 1974 for shooting to death John Wayne Bradford and Edward Thomas Arnold in Idaho. They had been house painters and had picked up Creech and his girlfriend while they hitchhiked through the state. It was for those murders he was sentenced to life in prison before beating Jensen to death in 1981 and garnering a death sentence. Jensen had reportedly been disabled and was serving a stint for car theft.

Had Creech ben killed as planned, his execution would have marked the second in the US this year, the first having been the nitrogen hypoxia execution of convicted hitman Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was put to death late last month in Alabama. There are eight people on death row in Idaho, including Creech.

Another execution was scheduled for Wednesday at 6pm local time in Texas, at which point Ivan Cantu is slated to be put to death by lethal injection for shooting and killing his cousin and a 21-year-old woman. He also reportedly stole jewellery and a car, it was reported. His case has been taken up in part by Kim Kardashian, who seems to be following in the footsteps of her late father and pursuing a legal career.

Jeremiah Hassel