Idaho Correctional Officers Sensit Revised Creech’s Request for a Sedative Approach in the Early Stages of Lethal Injection
On Wednesday morning Idaho prison officials will ask the 73-year-old if he would like a mild sedative to help calm him before his execution at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. Then, at 10 a.m. local time, they will bring him into the execution chamber and strap him to a padded medical table.
Creech’s attorneys filed a flurry of late appeals hoping to forestall his execution or have his sentence converted to life without release. They claimed that the clemency hearing was unfair, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and that he was sentenced by a judge rather than a jury.
According to Idaho court documents, the spiritual advisor of Creech will be allowed to stand next to him during the execution. The court document shows that the bishop will be allowed to make noise but not to hold his hand while the lethal injection takes place. The document says that he can make eye contact with his wife while he is at the witness area, and he will be allowed to wear a crucifix.
Executions became rare in the following decades. Though dozens of people have been sentenced to death row since the 1970s, Creech will be only the fourth to be executed by the state since 1957, all of them by lethal injection.
Jensen’s family members described him as a gentle soul who loved hunting and being outdoors during Creech’s clemency hearing last month. When Jensen’s daughter was a little girl, she spoke of how sad it was to grow up without a dad, since she already knew everything about him from other people.
During his clemency hearing, Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jill Longhorst did not dispute that Creech can be polite and friendly with correctional officers. But she said he is a psychopath — a man who can be charming and likeable but who lacks remorse and empathy for others.
The Death Penalty Information Center says that the second execution of the year will take place in the U.S. The first was in Alabama last month, when Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first death row inmate to be executed using nitrogen gas. Alabama officials said the method would be humane and predicted death would take place within a few minutes, but Smith seemed to remain conscious for several minutes and appeared to shake and writhe in agony for at least two minutes.
Ivan Cantu was sentenced to die for the fatal shooting of his cousin, James Mosqueda, and his girlfriend, Amy Kitchen. Cantu has maintained his innocence.
The death penalty in Idaho was not implemented until 26 years after the territory became a state. Since that time, 29 executions have been carried out, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, including the state’s last hanging in 1957.
A murderer who had given up his appeals and demanded to be put to death was executed in 1994. Rhoades was put to death for the murders of two people in eastern Idaho in 1987. Rhoades was also convicted of killing Nolan Haddon that year, and authorities said they suspected him in other deaths as well. In Idaho, Richard Albert Leavitt was put to death for the murder of Danette Jean Elg.
Earlier this year Idaho lawmakers considered adding the death penalty as a possible sentence for people convicted of lewd conduct with a child, but the legislation did not make it through the House of Representatives.
In court documents filed late last week, Idaho officials said Creech’s spiritual adviser would be allowed to stand next to Creech with a hand on his shoulder during the execution. The court document states that the Episcopal bishop will be able to pray but won’t be allowed to make a noise or hold his hand when the lethal injection chemical is administered. He can make eye contact with her in the witness area and wear a crucifix, according to the document.