State & Federal
Idaho
History of the Death Penalty
The death penalty was established in Idaho in 1864, before statehood. Since 1864, Idaho has carried out 29 executions. In 1901, executions were moved to Idaho’s state prison. Prior to that, executions were carried out on a county level, and were often public. Idaho’s last hanging was conducted in 1957.
Timeline
1864 - Idaho establishes the death penalty prior to statehood.
1901 - Idaho executions are moved to Idaho’s state prison. Previously, executions were carried out on a county level and were often public events.
1957 - Idaho carries out the state’s last hanging execution.
1973 - Capital punishment is reinstated in Idaho after the Supreme Court struck down all death penalty statutes across the country in Furman v. Georgia.
1994 - Idaho executes Keith Wells by lethal injection in the state’s first execution in 36 years.
2001 - Charles Fain’s murder conviction is vacated after DNA testing excludes him from the crime. He spent 18 years on death row.
2003 - Governor Dirk Kempthorne signs a bill to shift the responsibility of imposing the death penalty from judges to juries.
2011 - Paul Rhoades is executed by lethal injection in Idaho. This was the first execution in Idaho in 17 years.
2012 - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rules that witnesses should have full viewing-access to executions carried out in Idaho, siding with the Associated Press and other media outlets.
2019 - Idaho runs out of of drugs needed for lethal injection after a shortage prompted by major pharmaceutical companies refusing to sell drugs to states if those drugs will be used in executions.
2022 - Governor Brad Little signs a bill that boosts the veil of secrecy over drugs used for executions in the state. Under this bill, Idaho officials cannot share where and how they acquired drugs used in lethal injection executions.
2023 - Governor Brad Little signs a bill allowing execution by firing squad amidst a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs. Under this bill, firing squads will be used if the state cannot obtains the drugs necessary for lethal injections.
Notable Cases
Donald Paradis spent 14 years on death row in Idaho before his murder convictions were overturned and he was released from prison. Two murders were committed in Paradis’ home in Washington, but he was not present at the time. When he returned home and found the two bodies, he helped transport them across the state line to Idaho. Although Paradis was acquitted of the murders in Washington, a medical examiner suggested that one of the victims may have been killed in Idaho, and Paradis was tried and convicted there. Paradis’ lawyer had never studied criminal law or tried a case before a jury, and he was working as a police officer at the same time he was representing Paradis. In 2001, Paradis pleaded guilty to moving the bodies after the murder. He was sentenced to 5 years and released on time served.
Notable Exonerations
Charles Fain was convicted of murder in 1983. Several witnesses testified that Fain was living in Oregon at the time of the crime, and that he only returned to Idaho the following month. Fain agreed to provide hair samples to investigators, and an FBI expert testified that the samples matched evidence from the crime scene. New DNA testing methods used in 2001 not only excluded Fain as a suspect, but pointed to two other suspects. Fain’s conviction was vacated, and prosecutors stated that “justice requires the action we have taken today,” indicating that the investigation for the killer would be re-opened.
Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement
In 1864, the year after Idaho became a territory, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Idaho established the death penalty. The first territorial execution occurred the same year.
Capital punishment was reinstated in Idaho on July 7, 1973, after the United States Supreme Court struck down all death penalty statutes across the country in the 1972 Furman v. Georgia decision.
Idaho Execution Totals Since 1976
News & Developments
News
Feb 29, 2024
Idaho Halts First Lethal Injection Execution in 12 Years After Failure to Establish I.V. Lines
Thomas Creech’s February 28 execution was halted after the Idaho Department of Correction execution team was unable to set an intravenous line after an hour of repeated attempts. Mr. Creech remained strapped to the gurney and conscious while unsuccessful attempts were made to access veins in both arms and legs. Officials did not disclose why the execution team was unable to establish an IV line, but the training and qualifications of staff, as well as the accessibility and quality of Mr. Creech’s veins, could have been factors. Mr. Creech’s attorneys…
Read MoreFeb 13, 2024
Idaho Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution to State’s Longest Serving Death Row Prisoner Ahead of Feb 28 Execution Date
On February 9, 2024, the Idaho Supreme Court unanimously dismissed two state appeals for 73-year-old Thomas Creech, thereby denying his requests for a stay of execution. Mr. Creech, who has been on death row for more than 40 years, has also requested a new clemency hearing. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on February 28, which would be Idaho’s first execution since 2012.
Read MoreJan 25, 2024
Clemency Request for 73-Year-Old Death Row Prisoner in Idaho Has Support of Trial Judge and Prosecutor, Defense Presents Evidence of a Changed Man
On January 19, 2024, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole held a clemency hearing for Thomas Creech, who has been on death row for nearly 44 years. The Commission will now decide whether to recommend to Governor Brad Little that Mr. Creech’s death sentence be commuted to life in prison without parole. By law, the governor is not required to follow the Commission’s recommendation. Mr. Creech faced a scheduled execution date in November 2023, but the Commission stayed the execution so that it could decide his clemency request. Mr.…
Read MoreOct 19, 2023
Idaho Parole Board Grants Clemency Hearing for 73-Year-Old Death Row Prisoner Facing Execution
On October 18, 2023, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole delayed the scheduled execution for Thomas Creech in order to provide him with a full clemency hearing. A date for the hearing has not yet been scheduled. An Ada County, Idaho judge previously issued a death warrant for Mr. Creech, who has been on death row for nearly 44 years, setting his execution for November 8, 2023. The Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) announced that they have secured the appropriate drugs to carry out a lethal injection execution, despite…
Read MoreAug 16, 2023
Judge Orders Hearing for Idaho Prisoner Who Faced 5 Execution Dates, Claims of Repeated ‘Psychological Torture’
Idaho U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has ruled in favor of death row prisoner Gerald Pizzuto, indefinitely pausing his March 2023 execution date, and granting him a hearing in his claim that the state of Idaho violates his Constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment by repeatedly scheduling execution dates while knowing the state does not have the means to carry it out. “As Pizzuto describes it,” Judge Winmill wrote, “defendants’ repeated rescheduling of his execution is like dry firing in a mock execution or a game of Russian…
Read MoreJul 06, 2023
Execution Costs in Idaho Take Center Stage with New Firing Squad Law
A bill that Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law in March 2023, authorizing the use of the firing squad as a method of execution, went into effect on July 1, 2023. This law grants the director of Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) the authority to determine if lethal injection is available and, if deemed unavailable, to carry out the execution by firing squad.
Read MoreMar 28, 2023
Idaho Steps Closer to Using the Firing Squad for Executions
Idaho will become the fifth state to authorize the firing squad as a method of execution and may become the first state to mandatorily impose it on a death row prisoner since 1976. Idaho’s Governor Brad Little signed HB 186 into law on March 24, 2023, and it goes into effect on July 1. The law gives the director of the Idaho Department of Correction up to five days after a death warrant is issued to determine if lethal injection is available. If it is declared unavailable, the execution will…
Read MoreDec 19, 2022
Mississippi Executes Thomas Loden, As John Hanson, Gerald Pizzuto Death Warrants Expire
The three final executions scheduled in 2022 highlighted broader trends in the year’s executions — the execution of vulnerable defendants, unavailability of lethal-injection drugs, and the scheduling of executions without regard for the ability to actually carry them out. Mississippi executed Thomas “Eddie” Loden Jr. (pictured) on December 14, the 18th execution of the year, while two executions set for December 15 — John Hanson’s in Oklahoma and Gerald Pizzuto Jr.’s in Idaho — did not take place.
Read MoreDec 02, 2022
Saying It Can’t Obtain Lethal-Injection Drugs, Idaho Calls Off December Execution of Gerald Pizzuto
Idaho has called off the scheduled December 15, 2022 execution of terminally death-row prisoner Gerald Pizzuto, Jr. (pictured), saying it has not been able to obtain the drugs it needs to put him to death. Instead, prosecutors said, the state would allow the death warrant to expire.
Read MoreAug 25, 2022
Idaho Supreme Court Rules Governor Has Authority to Reject Clemency Recommendation, Reinstates Death Penalty for Gerald Pizzuto
The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s constitution permits a governor to reject clemency recommendations made by the Commission of Pardons and Parole, reversing a lower court’s decision that had blocked the state from executing terminally ill prisoner Gerald Pizzuto (pictured). The ruling may allow Idaho to carry out its first execution in more than a decade.
Read MoreJul 18, 2022
NEW SCHOLARSHIP: Idaho Study Shows Statute Fails to Limit Death Penalty to Worst Cases
A new study suggests that Idaho’s capital punishment statute fails to narrow the use of the death penalty to the “worst of the worst” crimes, raising questions about its constitutionality. In Narrowing Death Eligibility in Idaho: An Empirical and Constitutional Analysis, published in the February 2022 issue of the Idaho Law Review, Aliza Plener Cover (pictured) argues based on data from nearly 20 years of murder convictions that the Idaho legislature “has done little to meaningfully narrow a subset of those who are most deserving of death.”
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