BOISE, Idaho — Update: As of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, an hour after the scheduled execution for Thomas Creech, Idaho Department of Corrections announced that they were unable to proceed with the execution due to an inability to find a vein for the IV for the lethal injection.
The longest standing inmate on Idaho's death row is scheduled to be executed this morning. Thomas Creech will be put to death at 10 a.m. At around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the latest appeals by Creech's legal team to stay the execution.
Idaho is one of 21 states where capital punishment is legal.
The rest either don't have it, or have it on pause.
Idaho is set to execute it's 30th person later this morning - Thomas Creech. It's Idaho's first execution in more than 10 years.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based non-profit that provides data and analysis about capital punishment across the county, said the death penalty has been around in Idaho since before Idaho became a state.
In 1864, a year after Idaho became a territory, Idaho established a death penalty and the first territorial execution occurred the same year. Idaho did not become a state until 1890.
Before statehood, executions were carried out on a county level, and were often public events. In the early 1900s, Idaho moved executions to the state prisons.
Idaho's last hanging execution was in 1957, the first lethal injection happened in 1994 for an inmate named Keith Wells.
Before Well's execution, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all death penalties in 1972, but Idaho reinstated the death penalty a year later.
Idaho's most recent executions were Paul Rhoades in 2011, and Richard Leavitt in 2012.
Leavitt's execution was the first time witnesses were allowed to watch the entire lethal injection process after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Associated Press and 16 other news organizations should be allowed full viewing access to Idaho's executions. Before that ruling, Idaho only allow witnesses to watch executions after the IV's were put into the inmate's arm.
In 2019, Idaho ran out of drugs for lethal injections when pharmaceutical companies refused to sell drugs to states who would use the medicine for executions.
Last year, in 2023, Governor Brad Little signed a bill allowing execution by firing squad amidst a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs. The firing squad, which is also legal in 4 other states would only be used if the states can't get the drugs needed for a lethal injection.
Thomas Creech was set to be executed using lethal injection, per Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC). However, IDOC reported at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, that they were unable to find a vein for the necessary IV. At this time, next steps are unknown.
Idaho currently has 8 people on death row, including Creech.
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