Thomas Creech: US appeals court refuses to stay execution of killer on death row for 41 years

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

OHIO, UNITED STATES: On Friday, a US appeals court panel refused to postpone Idaho's upcoming execution of one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates.

In 1983, Thomas Creech received a death sentence for killing fellow prison inmate David Jensen using a battery-filled sock. 

According to Huffpost, Creech, 73, had already been convicted of four murders and was serving a life sentence when he killed Jensen.

Judge Jay Bybee denies Thomas Creech’s attorney's request

Thomas Creech’s Attorneys petitioned a panel at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to postpone Creech's scheduled lethal injection, set for Wednesday.

They argued they required more time to pursue a claim asserting that Creech's death sentence should be overturned due to evolving national standards of decency, as it was issued by a judge rather than a jury. 

They pointed out that only 2.1% of death row inmates across the country were sentenced to death solely by a judge.

During oral arguments on Thursday, the three judges expressed doubts.  They observed that while arguments regarding 'evolving standards of decency' have been used to prohibit the execution of juveniles or individuals with severe developmental delays, Creech's lawyers had presented little or no evidence indicating a growing aversion among Americans to executing inmates sentenced by judges rather than juries.

Judge Jay Bybee told Jonah Horwitz, an attorney for Creech, "We gave you an opportunity to tell us what evidence you have of an evolving standard, and you haven’t provided anything. This feels like it’s a delay for delay’s sake and it’s a shot in the dark."

The Idaho attorney general’s office opposed Creech’s request for a stay, arguing that Creech could have raised the issue long ago but waited until the last minute to try to forestall the execution. Deputy Attorney General LaMont Anderson stated, “This is a claim that was basically being held in the back pocket of Creech’s counsel, waiting until there was an actual execution that had been scheduled.”

In recent weeks, Creech’s attorneys filed three other challenges concerning his execution. Two were filed with the U.S. District Court in Idaho, one regarding the adequacy of his recent clemency hearing and the other over the state’s refusal to disclose the source of the lethal injection drug. The third challenge was an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Who is Thomas Creech?

Thomas Creech was originally from Ohio who has a long history of involvement in or suspicion of murders going back fifty years. 

In 1974, he was acquitted of the stabbing death of Paul Shrader, a retiree in Tuscon, Arizona. Creech, who was a cook living at the same motel where Shrader was found, then moved to Portland, Oregon, where he worked at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

In August of the same year, the body of William Joseph Dean was discovered in Creech’s living quarters, and on the same day, Sandra Jane Ramsamooj, a grocery store worker in Salem, was shot and killed. 

In November, while hitchhiking in Idaho with his 17-year-old girlfriend, John Wayne Bradford and Edward Thomas Arnold, two traveling house painters, picked them up. 

Both Bradford and Arnold were later found shot and partially buried along a highway. Creech was convicted, and his girlfriend testified against him. 

Thomas Creech made claims of killing 42 people during police interrogations

During police interrogations, Creech made exaggerated claims, allegedly under the influence of truth serum, stating he had killed 42 people, including some in satanic rituals and others as contract killings for motorcycle gangs across several states. 

Authorities couldn't prove most of his claims, but they did tie him to nine killings across Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, and California. 

Creech also claimed to have killed someone while on a weekend pass from the Oregon State Hospital, which police later confirmed based on fingerprints found at the murder scene. 

He was convicted of that case in 1980. During Creech's recent clemency hearing, the state provided new information, without evidence, alleging Creech had committed another killing in California in 1974, but prosecutors there don't plan to file charges due to his pending execution. 

Creech was first sentenced to death in 1975, but after the U.S. Supreme Court deemed automatic death sentences unconstitutional, it was converted to a life term. He was sentenced to death again after killing Jensen.