Idaho has delayed the execution of convicted serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech following a failed lethal injection attempt on Wednesday (Feb 28). Creech faced the death penalty for the 1981 murder of a fellow prisoner using a battery-filled sock.
According to Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic, a spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Correction, “The medical team was unable to establish an IV line, which prevented the execution from proceeding.”
Media reports indicate that after the unsuccessful attempt to execute Creech, the death warrant will now “expire.” Kuzeta-Cerimagic stated that the state will now evaluate the next steps in the case. Despite Creech’s three unsuccessful requests for a stay of execution, the US Supreme Court denied the appeals on Wednesday morning.
Had the execution been successful, it would have been Idaho’s first in over a decade.
Creech’s legal team, representing the Federal Defender Services of Idaho, expressed outrage, claiming that state officials made ten unsuccessful attempts to access veins in Creech’s arms and legs for the lethal injection.
“We are angered but not surprised that the State of Idaho botched the execution of Thomas Creech today. This is what happens when unknown individuals with unknown training are assigned to carry out an execution,” the legal team stated.
The Federal Defender Services of Idaho further remarked, “This is precisely the kind of mishap we warned the State and the Courts could happen when attempting to execute one of the country’s oldest death-row inmates.”
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