BOISE, Idaho — The lawyers for Thomas Creech, Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate, have filed a federal complaint against State of Idaho prosecutors, and are asking the state to pause his upcoming execution.
According to the Federal Defender Services of Idaho, the team representing Creech, state prosecutors violated his constitutional rights.
Last month, Creech went before the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole for a clemency hearing. After arguments, the commission voted 3-3, with one member recusing themselves from the vote.
Creech's death warrant was served on Jan. 30.
The defense is asking for the U.S. District Court of Idaho to stay, or pause, his execution scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 28.
According to a news release, they are also asking for a new commutation hearing, saying the tie vote shows "the commission was clearly torn, and if not for the state's misconduct, Mr. Creech might have prevailed with the majority vote he needed."
In their federal complaint, they cite two main "unfair and reckless" moves by the state as justification for why Creech should be granted a new clemency hearing:
First, they claim the state convicted Creech when they declared he was guilty of the 1974 fatal shooting of Daniel Walker in California. Creech has not been convicted of that killing. Creech's attorneys called the allegation "patently false" and "inflammatory".
In January, the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department named Creech as a suspect in the cold case.
Read the federal complaint below (mobile users tap this link).
In their second argument, his federal defenders accuse prosecutors of "possibly ginning up evidence that might not have ever existed in the case that landed him on death row."
A judge sentenced Creech, who was serving four life sentences in prison for the murders of two people in Valley County, to death in the 1981 for murdering his fellow inmate, David Jensen.
Jensen was beaten to death with a sock full of batteries in his cell.
Creech's attorneys say in his January clemency hearing, prosecutors showed a picture of a sock with Creech's name on it that they say was used in the murder. But his attorneys say the sock in the picture does not appear to match the sock in the official crime scene pictures "in many ways."
They add it was the first time the state disclosed that it "had a murder weapon with Mr. Creech's name on that, surely, if it ever existed, would have been used as a smoking gun."
The defense is also asking for time to look over the new photos.
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