The hour of Thomas Eugene Creech’s death has been set, and it is rapidly approaching.

On Wednesday morning Idaho prison officials will ask the 73-year-old if he would like a mild sedative to help calm him before his execution at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. Then, at 10 a.m. local time, they will bring him into the execution chamber and strap him to a padded medical table.

Defense attorneys and the warden will check for any last-minute court orders that would halt the execution of Creech, who is one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the U.S.

Barring any legal stay, volunteers with medical training will insert a catheter into one of Creech’s veins. He’ll be given a chance to say his last words, and a spiritual advisor may pray with him. Then the state will inject a drug intended to kill the man who has been convicted of five murders in three states and is suspected in several more.

  • quindraco@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    I originally upvoted you, but then I took a moment to read your comment more closely.

    It needs to be reserved for the most monstrous of crimes and, in this case, 5 undisputed murders plus possibly 5 more?

    No. Being convicted of 5 murders does not mean 5 undisputed murders. The primary argument against the death penalty is based on how often we incarcerate innocent or even insufficiently proven guilty people and then the only recourse is letting them out, since we have no recourse after wrongfully executing someone. Portraying the 5 murders he was convicted of as “undisputed” wilfully ignores the single biggest problem with the death penalty.