Who is Thomas Creech? Idaho’s longest-serving death row inmate and self-proclaimed serial killer to be executed
BOISE, IDAHO: Thomas Creech, 73, a self-proclaimed serial killer who has been on death row in Idaho for nearly 40 years, is scheduled to be executed next month.
A judge issued a death warrant for Creech on Thursday, October 12, setting his execution date for November 8.
Who has Thomas Creech killed?
Creech was first convicted of killing two people in Valley County in 1974 and sentenced to death.
But his sentence was reduced to life in prison after an appeal. In 1981, he killed another inmate David Jensen a 22-year-old car thief at the Idaho State Correctional Institution by beating him with a sock full of batteries, according to Idaho News.
He reportedly was not on good terms with Jensen. Creech who, at the time, was a janitor at the penitentiary has argued about Jensen "dirtying the floor."
He was again sentenced to death in 1983 for that murder.
Creech made headlines after he reportedly confessed to being a serial killer for around "40 murders," as per Idaho News 6. Some, according to reports, he accepted were Satanic rituals.
How will Thomas Creech be executed?
“The Department has secured the chemicals necessary to carry out an execution by lethal injection,” the Idaho Department of Correction said in a press release on Thursday, as reported by AP.
However, Idaho has faced difficulties in obtaining the drugs used for lethal injections in the past, the report mentioned.
Another death row inmate, Gerald Pizzuto Jr, who was convicted of killing two gold prospectors in 1985, sued the state for repeatedly scheduling and canceling his execution, claiming it violated his constitutional rights.
Then, a federal judge ordered the state to stop the practice last year.
Federal defenders are disappointed over the death sentence for Thomas Creek
Deborah Czuba, Supervising Attorney for the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Defender Services of Idaho, said her office was "obviously disappointed" over the state’s decision to seek a death warrant for Creech.
The attorney vowed to seek clemency and challenge the quality of the execution drugs.
"State has obtained the lethal drugs from shady pharmacies for the past two Idaho executions," Czuba said in the press release.
The attorney said that the State had a history of "seeking mock death warrants without any means to carry them out."
It further mentioned that the state’s conduct around its readiness for an execultion was "misleading."
Czuba expressed his high concern about the measures the state resorted to this time to find a drug supplier.
"The state continues to be focused on rushed retribution at all costs and by any means necessary, rather than careful consideration of the propriety of execution," Cuzuba said.
"We will be doing everything we can to fight for Mr Creech’s life, including challenging the quality of the drugs and execution by lethal injection. We will also be seeking clemency to commute Mr Creech’s death sentence to life without parole," Cuzuba added.