Idaho issues execution warrant for inmate who survived a botched attempt

Idaho prison officials will attempt to execute the state’s longest-serving death row inmate next month using new protocols after botching the first attempt in February

Idaho Death Chamber Changes

Idaho prison officials will attempt to execute the state’s longest-serving death row inmate next month using new protocols after botching the first attempt several months ago.

A judge issued a death warrant for Thomas Eugene Creech Wednesday morning, one day after the Idaho Department of Correction announced it had renovated its execution chamber to allow the execution team to insert catheters deep into the neck, groin, chest or arms of inmates if they are unable to establish a standard peripheral intravenous line.

The change came after the state tried and failed to execute Creech in February. Execution team members tried eight locations in Creech’s arms and legs but could not find a viable vein to deliver the lethal drug.

Creech’s attorneys with the Federal Defender Services of Idaho said the state was “sacrificing common decency and humanity” in its haste to try again to kill him.

“We are heartbroken and angered that Idaho would try again to execute Thomas Creech using virtually the same process and team and executioners, and before conducting any official review of what led to the botched attempt to take his life earlier this year,” the defense team wrote in a press release. “The level of recklessness puts Idaho in a class by itself, as other states that botched executions took significant steps to examine what went wrong before trying again.”