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.
73-year-old Thomas Creech has been behind bars for nearly 50 years. More than 40 of those years, he's been on death row.
Originally from Ohio, Creech's five murder convictions span Idaho, Oregon and California. His first conviction was in 1975 for killing Edward Arnold and John Bradford in Valley County the year prior. A first-degree murder charge was a mandatory death sentence under Idaho law at the time.
In 1979, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that law to be unconstitutional. Creech's death sentence got reduced to life in prison.
While in prison, he was convicted of two other murders, also committed in 1974. His victims were William Dean in Oregon, and Vivian Robinson in California. Those convictions came in in 1979 and 1980.
A year later, in 1981, Creech murdered fellow inmate, David Dale Jensen, 23. It is reported that Creech killed Jensen inside Idaho's maximum security prison, and Creech had beaten Jensen with a sock full of flashlight batteries, also stomping on Jensen's head and neck.
Once again, Creech found himself on death row.
After more than a decade of appeals and a ruling reversing that decision, Creech was sentenced to death for the third and final time in 1995.
In a 1998 interview, Creech told KTVB, "if I'm eventually executed, that's part of the price, also. I'll walk out there with my head held up."
Now, nearly 30 years later, the Idaho Supreme Court denied one of the latest attempts from Creech's team to save him.
Earlier this month, they announced that Wednesday's execution will move forward, barring any stoppages from the U.S. Supreme Court.
As of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, the U.S. Supreme Court denied all motions, allowing the state to move forward with the execution.
This will be the first state execution since 2012, and seven others still sit on death row in Idaho.
As of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) announced they were unable to complete the execution, as they could not find a vein for the IV.
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