BOISE, Idaho — Attorneys representing Thomas Creech, Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate, filed a challenge to his death sentence with the Idaho Supreme Court, according to a news release from Thursday, Nov. 16.
According to Creech's legal team, the judge from the original case solely sentenced Creech to the death penalty, and not a jury. In an appeal to the state, his attorneys stated that was unconstitutional. In February 2003, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne signed into law a bill that provides for jury sentencing in capital cases, such as Creech's. Creech's attorneys are now arguing that his execution goes against this law.
"Judges in the United States have not been allowed to impose death sentences without the involvement of a jury since 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court found that death sentences imposed solely by judges were unconstitutional," Creech's attorneys stated.
He was set to be executed on Nov. 8, after being on death row for 40 years. Creech, who is now 73, was originally convicted of killing two people in Valley County in 1974. At that time, he was sentenced to death. After an appeal to the state, that sentencing was reduced to life in prison, as KTVB previously reported.
While serving time for his first sentence, Creech also murdered a fellow inmate, David Dale Jensen, in 1981. The judge trying that case, Robert Newhouse, sentenced Creech to death.
"Thomas Creech deserves a trial by jury, like every American," Creech's attorneys at the Federal Defender Services of Idaho stated in the release.
The review for Creech's case was scheduled for November 2, 2023, however, the date was canceled and moved to February 5, 2024.
Additionally, his attorneys are seeking a new sentencing hearing, this time before a jury, which, they claim, he has a right to under both the U.S. and State of Idaho Constitutions.
“Executing someone like Mr. Creech, who was sentenced to death by a single judge without involvement by a jury, is antithetical to the principles the United States was founded upon,” a brief filed by Creech’s legal team stated.
Creech's legal team also stated in the release that Newhouse is now opposed to their client's death sentence and is formally supporting his clemency bid.
Creech's clemency hearing is scheduled for January 19. The clemency hearing is separate from the appeal being processed by the Idaho Supreme Court at this time.
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