A botched execution in Idaho renews investigation into lethal injections

Executioners in Idaho on Wednesday abandoned their attempt to perform lethal injections on one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates after repeated attempts to tap a vein were unsuccessful.

Public defenders representing the inmate, Thomas Eugene Creech, and witnesses said officials attempted to insert needles into each of Mr. Creech’s limbs before abandoning the attempt. Mr Creech’s death sentence expired at the end of the day and he was returned to his cell.

It was Idaho’s first execution attempt in more than a decade.

The bust was the latest in a series of botched executions across the country, often due to executioners having trouble finding veins. Under legal pressure, some states have explored alternatives, including nitrogen gas, and Idaho is one of several states that recently approved the use of firing squads to carry out the death penalty.

After the botched execution, Mr. Creech’s lawyers filed a motion in federal court to halt further efforts to execute him and denounced the failures of the Idaho Department of Correction.

“We are angry but not surprised that the state of Idaho botched the execution of Thomas Creech today,” the attorneys said in a statement.

Mr Creech, 73, was convicted of five murders and suspected of others. He served 50 years in prison and was sentenced to death in 1983 for the murder of David Jensen, a fellow inmate whom Mr Creech attacked with a sock full of batteries.

Mr. Creech’s lawyers had tried unsuccessfully to prevent his execution, arguing in part that it was unconstitutional to kill Mr. Creech because he had been convicted by a judge and not a jury. Hours before his execution was to take place, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his remaining appeals.

The state began executing Mr. Creech at 10 a.m. Witnesses said medical workers used vein finders, hot compresses and blood pressure cuffs to access the veins. They tried putting an IV in his arms first and then moving to his legs. At one point, a member of the medical team left the room to bring in more supplies.

Josh Tewalt, the director of the Idaho Department of Correction, said the medical team conducted an examination and believed it could achieve access to a vein. But the team later concluded there were problems with “vein quality,” he said.

Mr. Tewalt praised the team for its efforts. “Our first goal is to conduct this with dignity, professionalism and respect,” he said.

Media witnesses said that nearly an hour after the execution, Creech reported that his legs “were a little sore,” which the state attributed to cramps. Soon after, Mr. Tewalt consulted with the medical team and determined that an IV line could not be established, officials said. The state says it is considering next steps.

The failure came about a month after officials in Alabama, which had a series of botched lethal injections in 2022, executed a prisoner with nitrogen gas, the first time the method had been used in capital punishment in the United States. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the execution was “humane and effective.” But witnesses said the inmate, Kenneth Smith, shook and writhed for several minutes as the gas was administered.

A growing number of states have banned the death penalty, while others have had difficulty enforcing their execution schedules because they have been unable to obtain lethal drugs. Idaho was one of those states, although it was able to acquire the drugs after the Legislature passed a law in 2022 protecting the identities of those who supply them.

Mr. Tewalt said he could not say what the state would do next. While the firing squad was an option under Idaho law, he said the state does not yet have the capabilities to implement that. “We will continue to work on these efforts,” he said. He added that a change in state law is needed to make nitrogen gas an option.

“In terms of determining when to request a new death sentence, whether to request a new death sentence, these are discussions that need to happen in the coming days,” Mr. Tewalt said.