The State of Idaho issued a death warrant for Idaho’s longest serving death row inmate last week. Now, his attorneys are asking to change his sentence to life without parole.
On Saturday, Thomas Creech’s defense team submitted a clemency bid asking to commute his death sentence. His defense laid out several arguments including that the judge who convicted him has since changed his mind and publicly stated his death would “just be an act of vengeance.” They also said his death would greatly affect his fellow inmates as well as prison staff.
Robin Maher, the Director of the Death Penalty Information Center based in Washington D.C., said Judge Robert Newhouse’s change of heart is very unusual.
“This judge has reflected on the person that Mr. Creech has become behind bars. He's a different person than he was 40 years ago, and has decided that nothing good will come from his execution,” she said.
The now 73-year-old was convicted for a 1974 double murder in Valley County and for killing a fellow inmate in 1981.
“It's not whether Mr. Creech committed that crime,” Maher added. “It's about whether he is sufficiently changed and deserving of a sentence other than death at this point in time.”
His execution was blocked multiple times but in February, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his sentence. Last week, the Idaho Department of Corrections said it had secured the execution drugs and his death by lethal injection is scheduled for Nov. 8.
This does not guarantee Creech will get a clemency hearing as the Commission of Pardons and Parole is not required to grant one. If Creech's sentence was supported to be changed in a clemency hearing, the governor can dismiss the recommendation.
