West
Idaho serial killer survives lethal injection attempt, prompting renewed push for firing squad
Convicted Idaho serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech survived his scheduled execution last month when his executioners spent an hour trying to find a suitable vein and failed.
He is one of the country’s longest-serving death row inmates, and he’s been sentenced to death more than once, although his latest death warrant has now expired, and authorities are considering their next move.
Fordham Law School Professor Deborah Denno, a leading expert on capital punishment, explained that lethal injection has become less reliable over the years with production of a key drug no longer conducted on American soil.
She added that the death penalty is better delivered by the time-tested firing squad over new methods like Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia process, which resulted in a gruesome scene during its first use in January.
IDAHO’S MOVE TO RESURRECT FIRING SQUAD ‘MAKES SENSE’ AS ‘QUICKEST, SUREST’ DEATH PENALTY OPTION, EXPERT SAYS
Inset: Mugshot of condemned murderer Thomas Creech. Background: The sun rises on the entrance to the Idaho State prison complex near Kuna, Idaho, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Inset: Idaho Department of Correction)
“The elephant in the room is this has happened so many times. Why weren’t they more prepared?” Denno told Fox News Digital.
There is secrecy surrounding training for such executions and the medical staffs that conduct them, she said. But while there could be more transparency there, and the credentials of the executioners could be presented in substance without sacrificing their anonymity, there is a simpler option.
There’s no shortage of trained marksmen who could take part in a firing squad from 20 yards away, and the method has proven reliable over the centuries.
Creech is the fourth condemned inmate to survive his scheduled lethal injection in just a few years, she said. The method spiraled into chaos after 2009, when the last U.S. manufacturer of one of three drugs closed down, making it difficult for states to obtain, especially since its leading manufacturer, an Italy-based company, opposes the death penalty.
IDAHO GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW ALLOWING FIRING SQUAD EXECUTIONS
“The elephant in the room is this has happened so many times. Why weren’t they more prepared?”
Substitutions have shown poor results, Denno said. And she has concerns about the training for people who administer the drugs, which can be shrouded in secrecy.
“We have every detail on the last meal that these inmates eat. There are articles written down to how many packets of ketchup they use,” she said. “And we just don’t have any details on the actual execution process, but they certainly could be provided while protecting people’s anonymity. And I do think drug companies should be known. We should know where the drugs are coming from.”
That’s why, she says, Idaho’s recently revived firing squad is the most effective method for capital punishment.
IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER COULD FACE DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD UNDER PROPOSED LAW IF CONVICTED
A prison officer patrols near the Idaho State prison complex near Kuna, Idaho, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kyle Green)
“We’ve had three modern firing squad executions, and they have gone off as intended, and the inmate has died quickly and with dignity,” she said. “So, I think that is something to emphasize.”
She pointed to Alabama’s recent experiment with nitrogen hypoxia. Kenneth Smith, a hitman convicted of a 1988 murder for hire, was the first person in the world executed by the method. Like Creech, he survived a prior attempt at lethal injection.
Witnesses reported he suffered convulsive death throes while restrained on a gurney and took far longer to die than expected.
He was supposed to die painlessly and within seconds. Instead, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, he “shook, convulsed, writhed and gasped for minutes until he was pronounced dead at least 22 minutes after the execution began.”
Veterinarians won’t even use the method to euthanize animals due to uncertainty about its effects, the organization noted.
Convicted Idaho serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech survived his scheduled execution last month. (Idaho Department of Correction/AP)
“I think it’s pretty telling that even though some states have presented bills to their legislatures about nitrogen hypoxia, no other state has adopted it since Alabama carried out that execution,” Denno said. “And you can understand why. It was a highly flawed execution, very visibly flawed.”
In Tennessee, where inmates can choose between lethal injection and electrocution, they’ve begun preferring the latter, she said. As a result, she’s previously called for inmates to be given the chance to choose a firing squad, rather than leaving the decision in the hands of the government.
The execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution as Warden Randy Blades looks on in Boise, Idaho, Oct. 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Jessie L. Bonner, File)
Creech was first sentenced to death for the murders of John Wayne Bradford and Edward Thomas Arnold in 1974. He was hitchhiking when the two picked him up. Then he shot them from behind.
He escaped death in that case when courts found the state’s old sentencing law to be unconstitutional and his punishment was commuted to life in prison.
He had previously been acquitted of the murder of Paul Schrader, 70, in Tucson, Arizona. However, investigators still think he was the killer. He’s been convicted of five slayings altogether across three states and made dozens of additional confessions, although authorities say most of them are likely bogus.
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In 1981, he used a sock stuffed full of batteries to pummel a disabled inmate named David Dale Jensen to death. He received a new death sentence in 1983 and has since become one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the country.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Oregon
2026 NFL combine: Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq runs fastest 40 by tight end since at least 2003
INDIANAPOLIS — Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq ran the fastest 40-yard dash of any tight end at the NFL Scouting Combine since at least 2003, posting a blazing time of 4.39 seconds on Friday.
Sadiq’s official time bested the previous mark of 4.40 seconds, set by Vernon Davis in 2006 and tied by Dorin Dickerson in 2010.
The 6-foot-3 1/8, 241-pound Sadiq was expected to be a standout during the workout portion of the event, and he started the night with a broad jump of 11-1. It was the highest mark of the 2026 combine among tight ends before Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers topped it a few minutes later with a jump of 11-3.
Sadiq shined in the vertical leap, too, jumping 43 1/2 inches, only to be outdone by Stowers shortly thereafter after he posted a jump of 45 1/2 inches, the best mark by a TE since at least 2003.
Utah
Utahns first or eroding the Utah way? House OKs measure cracking down on illegal immigration
SALT LAKE CITY — A controversial Utah proposal to crack down on the presence of immigrants in the country illegally that had seemed stalled gained new life Friday, passing muster in new form in a relatively narrow vote.
In a 39-33 vote, the Utah House approved HB386 — amended with portions of HB88, which stalled in the House on Monday — and the revamped measure now goes to the Utah Senate for consideration.
The reworked version of HB386, originally meant just to repeal outdated immigration legislation, now also contains provisions prohibiting immigrants in the country illegally from being able to tap into in-state university tuition, certain home loan programs and certain professional licensing.
The new HB386 isn’t as far-reaching as HB88, which also would have prohibited immigrants in the country illegally from being able to access certain public benefits like food at food pantries, immunizations for communicable diseases and emergency housing.
Moreover, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton and the HB88 sponsor, stressed that the new provisions in HB386 wouldn’t impact immigrants in the country legally. He touted HB88 as a means of making sure taxpayer money isn’t funneled to programming that immigrants in the country illegally can tap.
Rep. Lisa Shepherd, R-Provo, the HB386 sponsor, sounded a similar message, referencing, with chagrin, the provision allowing certain students in the country illegally to access lower in-state tuition rates at Utah’s public universities. Because of such provisions “we’re taking care of other countries’ children first, and I want to take care of Utahns first. In my campaign I ran and said Utahns first and this bill will put Utahns first,” she said.
If we stop young folks who have lived here much of their life from going to school and getting an education, it is really clear to me that we have hurt that person. It’s not clear to me at all that we have benefitted the rest of us.
–Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful
The relatively narrow 39-33 vote, atypical in the GOP-dominated Utah Legislature, followed several other narrow, hotly contested procedural votes to formally amend HB386. Foes, including both Democrats and Republicans, took particular umbrage with provisions prohibiting immigrants in the country illegally from being able to pay in-state tuition and access certain scholarships.
As is, students in the country illegally who have attended high school for at least three years in Utah and meet other guidelines may pay lower in-state tuition, but if they have to pay out-of-state tuition instead, they could no longer afford to go to college.
“If we stop young folks who have lived here much of their life from going to school and getting an education, it is really clear to me that we have hurt that person. It’s not clear to me at all that we have benefitted the rest of us,” said Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful.
Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, noted her own hardscrabble upbringing as an immigrant from Vietnam and said the changes outlined in the reworked version of HB386 run counter to what she believes Utah stands for.
“I fear that what we’re doing here in Utah is we are eroding what truly makes Utah special, the Utah way. We are starting to adopt policies that are regressive and don’t take care of people. Utahns are one thing. Citizens are one thing. People is the first thing,” she said.
Rep. John Arthur, D-Cottonwood Heights, said the measure sends a negative message to the immigrant students impacted.
“If we pass this bill today, colleagues, we will be telling these young people — again, who have graduated from our high schools, these kids who have gone to at least three years of school here — that you’re no longer a Utahn,” he said.
If we are compassionate to those who come the legal way and we are compassionate to those who already live here, that does not mean that we lack compassion for others in other ways.
–Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland
Rep. Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland, said the debate underscores a “fallacy” about compassion. She backed the reworked version of HB386, saying Utah resources should be first spend on those in the country legally.
“If we are compassionate to those who come the legal way and we are compassionate to those who already live here, that does not mean that we lack compassion for others in other ways,” she said.
The original version of HB386 calls for repeal of immigration laws on the books that are outdated because other triggering requirements have not been met or they run counter to federal law.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
Washington
Man charged with shooting co-worker in Washington Heights
A 26-year-old man had an argument with a co-worker before allegedly fatally shooting the colleague in Washington Heights, prosecutors said Friday.
Bobby Martin, who was charged with first-degree murder Thursday, made his first appearance Friday in Cook County court.
Martin, is accused of killing his co-worker, Antoine Alexander, 32, in a parking lot at 9411 S Ashland Ave about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Chicago police.
Prosecutors said Martin and Alexander worked together at an armed security company and got into a verbal altercation inside the guard shack on Tuesday afternoon. During the altercation, prosecutors said Alexander removed his bullet proof vest and threw it to the ground. A witness, another co-worker, then told the defendant and the victim to take the altercation outside.
After stepping outside, the defendant pulled his firearm and fired one shot into the victims abdomen, prosecutors said. The victim’s firearm was holstered at the time of the argument and the shooting. The defendant fled the scene and came into contact with another co-worker, whom he told that he had just shot Alexander.
Alexander was then taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.
Martin was arrested by authorities three blocks from his home approximately 20 minutes after the shooting, prosecutors said.
Martin was detained and will appear in court again on March 17, authorities said.
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