Idaho prison system revises execution policy after failed lethal injection in February

Nearly eight months after the first failed execution in Idaho history, the state prison system has in place changes to its lethal injection procedures in efforts to maintain capital punishment and avoid a repeat occurrence.

The Idaho Department of Correction over the summer retrofitted its execution chamber at the maximum security prison south of Boise to retain lethal injection as its preferred method, the department said in a Tuesday news release. Idaho’s death row, where the state’s male prisoners sentenced to death are housed, also is at that prison.

The announced changes now allow members of the prison execution team to pursue heightened processes for accessing a prisoner’s veins when standard intravenous lines at various points of the body are not possible, the news release said. In February, prison officials called off a 73-year-old prisoner’s lethal injection after an hour of attempts to find a suitable vein for an IV were unsuccessful.

“Our previous protocols proved effective at protecting the integrity of the process and ensuring adherence with Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment,” IDOC Director Josh Tewalt said in the news release. “These changes enhance the state’s ability to carry out an execution by lethal injection by ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to establish IV access.”

IDOC said it would provide no further comment, citing active litigation.

No known active death warrants are in place for an Idaho prisoner. The Idaho Attorney General’s Office and Ada County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to requests from the Idaho Statesman to confirm each is not pursuing one for a member of death row.

The state’s revised lethal injection process will allow for a central line to access a prisoner’s body to deliver a lethal dose of chemicals through syringes when a regular IV, also known as peripheral access, cannot be established. The department renovated a portion of the maximum security prison area near the existing execution chamber to create a “preparation room,” where the execution team will decide what type of vein access is necessary before escorting the prisoner into the execution chamber.

A central line already existed in the prison system’s execution protocols, Idaho lethal injection procedure documents showed. But the execution team was not trained and prepared to attempt the stepped-up lethal injection process in February when it failed to execute prisoner Thomas Creech, despite trying to inject him at eight different entry points of his body, Tewalt previously said.

“When we get into establishing what’s referred to as a central line, you’re essentially talking about a surgical procedure,” he told an Idaho House committee the day after calling off the execution. “So our team is qualified and competent at establishing peripheral lines. They attempted that at eight different sites that included arms, legs, feet and hands, and were unable to successfully establish that.”

Idaho has not executed a prisoner in more than 12 years, last doing so by lethal injection in June 2012. It has executed just two prisoners in the past 30 years. Idaho’s death row currently has nine members.

Creech, now 74, was convicted of five murders, including three in Idaho, and has been incarcerated for almost 50 years. A dozen death warrants have been issued for Creech’s execution since he was sentenced to death in 1976 following his conviction for the shooting deaths of two men in Valley County in November 1974. Only the most recent death warrant, issued in January for Creech, led to him to enter the execution chamber.

Creech’s attorneys with the nonprofit Federal Defender Services of Idaho declined a request for comment from the Statesman on Tuesday about the prison system’s updated execution procedures.

Creech mounts legal fight over another execution attempt

After surviving his scheduled execution earlier this year, Creech – the state’s longest-serving death row prisoner – asserted in a lawsuit that a second attempt to execute him would violate his constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment. A 4th District judge in Ada County last month ruled against him and dismissed the case. Creech’s attorneys have asked the judge to reconsider his ruling.

Central lines are frequently used for medical purposes to administer fluids or medications through an IV when peripheral access is not available, the prison said in the news release. Central lines for a prisoner’s execution by lethal injection could now include lines that enter through an internal jugular in the neck, a femoral vein in the upper thigh or a subclavian vein in the chest.

The prison system said it will have a “qualified physician” on site for future lethal injection executions to assist with establishing a central line if the execution team leader determines a peripheral IV line is not possible. Among several national medical groups, the American Medical Association prohibits its members from any form of participation in an execution.

“A physician must not participate in a legally authorized execution, according to the Code of Medical Ethics, which sets the professional expectations and values to which physicians should be held in their roles as healers, educators, scientists and leaders,” the American Medical Association said in an emailed statement to the Statesman. “The Code of Medical Ethics cannot condone physicians who act as agents of the state during an execution and assist, supervise or contribute to the forcible death of a person.”

Susie Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association, declined a request for comment Tuesday.

Idaho’s execution shield law prevents the public release of any identifying information about members of its execution team.

In addition to constructing the new execution preparation room, the prison system added live, closed-circuit video and audio feeds to broadcast the entirety of the execution process to witnesses for the state and prisoner, the news release said. The addition helps meet federal legal requirements surrounding an execution.

Last year, the Idaho Legislature passed a law that made a firing squad the state’s backup execution method when lethal injection drugs are not available. Tewalt is given the responsibility to make the determination up to five days after a death warrant is issued. The prison system has a stock of lethal injection drugs on hand, he previously told the Statesman in an interview.

The Legislature set aside $750,000 to retrofit the execution chamber to provide for the firing squad alternative, but construction has yet to begin.