Barring a last-minute court intervention, the state is set to execute inmate Thomas Creech by lethal injection Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Idaho State Correctional Institute south of Boise.
Creech has been on death row since he was sentenced for beating a fellow inmate to death with a battery-filled sock in 1981. At the time, he was incarcerated for a 1974 double murder. While in custody, he confessed to several other killings and authorities have linked him to murders in several other states.
In recent months, the Commission of Pardons and Parole denied the 73- year -old’s bid for clemency. Supporters of Creech argued he was an exemplary inmate and his killing would affect the prison staff who have been with him for decades.
Creech has been behind bars for 50 years.
This past week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U-S Supreme Court rejected several of his attorneys’ last-ditch efforts to stay his execution. In light of the controversy surrounding Idaho’s last execution, his legal team questioned where the Department of Corrections secured drugs for his execution and voiced concerns they came from shady suppliers.
Creech was moved from a maximum security facility to a cell at the Idaho Department of Corrections’ execution unit after his death warrant was issued on January 30th. There he has received visits from his wife, his legal team and his spiritual advisor.
For his last meal, an IDOC representative says he asked for chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes and ice cream.
Attorney General Raúl Labrador is planning on witnessing the execution, as are representatives from the governor, the Ada County Prosecutor’s offices and IDOC Director Josh Tewalt. According to the IDOC, no one from the victims’ families asked to be present.
Four local media journalists will also be witnesses and will report back at a press conference immediately after the execution.
Creech will be the first inmate executed by the state in 12 years.
