The Idaho Supreme Court held Tuesday night that a second execution attempt of Thomas Creech does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment or imposing multiple punishments for the same offense.
Earlier Tuesday, a federal judge in the district of Arizona said he will block the scheduled execution of Creech, according to the Idaho Statesman. U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow said in court that a second execution attempt would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The stay ordered by Snow is expected to be only 20 days, according to the Statesman, but that will outlast the current death warrant ordering Creech's execution.
Creech is Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate. He was sentenced to death in 1995 and in February of this year, an attempt to execute him by lethal injection was unsuccessful due to the inability to establish "reliable intravenous access."
Following the failed execution attempt, Creech filed a petition for post-conviction relief in March, arguing any further attempt to carry out the death penalty would violate the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause and the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Creech was scheduled for execution on Nov. 13. What comes next is to be determined as the stay was issued by Snow before the Idaho Supreme Court made its decision.
