A federal judge has temporarily halted the planned execution of an Idaho man on death row whose first lethal injection attempt was botched earlier this year.
Thomas Eugene Creech was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Nov. 13 — roughly nine months after the state first tried and failed to execute him. Execution team members tried eight locations in Creech’s arms and legs on Feb. 28 but could not find a viable vein to deliver the lethal drug.
U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow issued the stay this week to allow the court enough time to consider Creech’s claims that prosecutors acted improperly during his clemency hearing. Creech’s defense team also has other legal cases underway seeking to stop him from being put to death.
The Idaho Department of Correction declined to comment on the postponement because the lawsuit is ongoing but said it will take at least until the end of the month for both sides to file the written copies of their arguments with the court.
“Per IDOC policy, Mr. Creech has been returned to his previous housing assignment in J-Block and execution preparations have been suspended,” department public information officer Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic said in a statement.