Idaho’s longest serving death row inmate’s latest appeal to stay his execution was denied on Friday, days before he is set to be executed.
Creech was sentenced to death in 1995 for murdering a fellow inmate while he was serving time for a 1974 double murder in Valley County. His legal defense team had asked a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in San Francisco to delay his execution while they appealed his sentence. On Friday, they were denied.
His attorneys argued his death sentence should be stayed as he was sentenced by a single judge instead of a jury. The Associated Press reports his attorneys said only 2.1% of death row inmates in the country have been sentenced by a judge. The judge who sent Creech to death row has since stated he did not think executing him was appropriate.
His legal team has three challenges to his execution still pending, two in front of the 9th Circuit and one in front of the Supreme Court. In recent weeks, several requests for a stay were denied. Creech's attorneys also questioned where the drugs for his execution had been secured, but they did not receive clarification from the Department of Corrections.
Creech is set to be killed by the state on Wednesday.
