BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole denied Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate Thomas Creech's latest request for a clemency hearing.
On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the commission voted five to one, denying the hearing, and one member recused themselves.
The hearing was requested by attorneys representing Creech on Thursday, Oct. 22. They filed a commutation petition to challenge the allegation that he was the suspect in a California cold case.
Several documents were filed to the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole, including a letter in support of the petition for a clemency hearing from a family member of Daniel Walker, who was killed in San Bernardino County on Oct. 1, 1974.
Attorneys representing Creech said he was accused of Walker's murder during a clemency hearing earlier in 2024, and the prosecutors urged the parole board to deny him clemency.
Attorneys said Creech didn't have enough "time to meaningfully defend himself," which resulted in the tie vote by the parole board commissioners and allowed his scheduled Feb. 28, 2024, execution to continue.
"Since the botched execution, Mr. Creech’s legal team has been able to develop information that the lead detectives on the Walker case had thoroughly investigated him as a suspect at the time of the crime, but ultimately found his stories unbelievable and ruled him out," attorneys said in court documents.
According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's website, Daniel Walker's murder remains on the cold case page.
The state of Idaho is still set to execute Creech by lethal injection on Nov. 13.