Oct. 17 (UPI) — An Idaho judge has scheduled the execution of the state’s longest-serving death row inmate following a botched attempt to administer his sentence earlier this year.
Fourth Judicial District Judge Jason Scott on Wednesday issued the death warrant for Thomas Eugene Creech for 10 a.m. on Nov. 13.
The Idaho Department of Correction then served Creech, 74, the death warrant at 10 a.m. Wednesday. He was immediately moved to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution’s F Block, where his execution will take place.
IDOC Director Josh Tewalt confirmed in a statement that Creech will be put to death by lethal injection and that the department has procured the chemicals necessary to administer his sentence.
The announcement came a day after the IDOC said it had completed modifications to its F Block necessitated by the state’s botched Feb. 28 execution of Creech.
With the septuagenarian strapped to a gurney, the medical team was unable to establish an IV line to administer the lethal cocktail, and his death was called off.
The IDOC said in a statement Tuesday that it had lacked “the appropriate environment to conduct the procedure” but over the summer, the F Block “was renovated to create an execution preparation room to establish venous access.”
It also revised its execution protocols “to reflect how the new space affects the protocols and sequence of procedures,” it said.
Creech has been convicted of killing five people, four in 1974 in Portland, Ore., and Sacramento, Calif., for which he received life sentences. The death penalty was handed down after he pleaded guilty for beating a fellow inmate to death with a sock filled with batteries in 1981.
However, Creech has confessed to killing more than two dozen people, claiming he was 15 years old when he killed his first victim.
Following its failure in late February to kill Creech, the state’s attorney general, Raul Labrador, described it as a delay of justice.
“Today is a sad day for the families of his victims, and a continuation of the pain they have endured for almost five decades,” Labrador said in a statement. “Our duty is to seek justice for the many victims and their families who experienced the brutality and senselessness of his actions.”
Following the issuance of the death warrant Wednesday, Creech’s attorney, Deborah Czuba, said she was “heartbroken and angered” that the state would try again to execute her client before conducting an official review of what caused the state’s initial failure.
“The level of recklessness puts Idaho in a class by itself, as other states that botched executions took significant steps to examine what went wrong before trying again,” Czuba, supervising attorney for the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Defenders of Idaho, said in a statement to local media.
“Idaho has now made itself the first state in the history of the country to try to use lethal injection a second time on the same inmate after failing the first time.”
According to the IDOC, there have been three executions since Idaho enacted its death penalty statute in 1977.
There are nine people on Idaho’s death row, including Creech, who was sentenced to death in 1983, making him the state’s longest-serving death row inmate.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (CBS2) — A two-vehicle crash involving a hay-stacker truck sent two men to the hospital Wednesday afternoon in Twin Falls County, with one later flown to another facility.
Idaho State Police said the crash happened Wednesday, June 3, at about 12:19 p.m. at the intersection of N 2500 E and E 3400 N.
A 28-year-old man from Jerome was driving southbound on N 2500 E in a 2006 Ford Taurus, and a 59-year-old man from Twin Falls was driving westbound on E 3400 N in a New Holland hay-stacker truck, according to ISP.
Police said the driver of the Ford Taurus failed to obey the stop sign and collided with the hay-stacker.
Neither driver was wearing a seatbelt, and both were taken by ground ambulance to a nearby hospital. The driver of the hay-stacker was later transported by air ambulance to a different hospital, according to ISP.
The roadway was blocked for about two-and-a-half hours while crews worked to clear the scene. The crash remains under investigation.
Rapid population growth is reshaping Idaho’s politics and creating new tensions across the state, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said Wednesday to the Boise business community.
“If there’s anything to reflect on, it’s just how much Idaho is changing, the rate of growth that we are seeing, and the rate of growth we’re going to continue to see,” McGrane said at an event hosted by the Boise Metro Chamber.
According to data by the U.S. Census Bureau, Idaho had the second-highest population growth in 2025, which was the largest nationwide in the past five years. With a 10.4% increase comes people from all walks of life.
McGrane pointed to Boise’s evolving skyline and with that comes new business. Idaho business filings have increased from 425,000 in 2020 to roughly 650,000 in 2025 — a 50% increase.
But it isn’t just the economy driving these newcomers. Natural disasters and people exhausted from their home state’s politics are also a force.
Look no further than California: the largest group of migrants to Idaho. McGrane noted that northern Idaho farmers picture them as “blue-haired hippies from the Bay Area.” In fact, it’s the exact opposite.
Seventy-seven percent of Californians moving to the Gem State are registered Republicans.
“When you see the fires in LA, what I see is people moving to Idaho,” McGrane said. “Your home burned down, you’re probably not going to build it where you’ve just burned down, you’re going to find someplace else to move.”
It isn’t just California refugees contributing to the significant increase in Idaho’s Republican makeup. Migrants from all across the country are sharing similar sentiments, highlighting the 58% to 62% increase of registered Republicans since McGrane first took office in 2023.
Migration patterns are creating more of a divide within the Republican Party of Idaho, he said. Multi-generational Idahoans are concerned with agriculture and water rights, while newer residents are fixated on social and policy debates.
Voter turnout has been an issue nationwide, spilling into the Gem State. According to data from Idaho.gov, about 73% of its voting-age population is registered to vote. That means over a quarter of Idahoans who are eligible to vote aren’t registered.
To emphasize the importance of voter participation, McGrane pointed to a phrase often expressed by Gov. Brad Little: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
Just 12% of Idaho’s voting-age population participated in the primary election to select a party nominee for governor. That figure underscores how primaries carry lots of weight in Idaho.
“The overwhelming majority of decisions were just made on the May 19 election,” McGrane said.
Consequences of low voter turnout are often visible in tight-knit elections, he added. In 2020, there was a race for the Ada County Highway District commission, featuring Rebecca Arnold vs. Alexis Pickering.
The contest ultimately came down to two votes out of roughly 40,000 ballots cast. Around 10,000 voters skipped the race entirely, which illustrates how a small number of ballots can determine elections.
McGrane said those dynamics will continue shaping the fast-growing state’s political sphere.
“One of the biggest decisions that we have as a state is just who gets engaged, who participates and who votes in our elections,” McGrane said.
The Idaho State Police say that Robert Giesick, 40, from Billings is the man missing in a crash on State Highway 55 near Cascade, about 80 miles north of Boise.
A pick-up truck driven by Giesick ended up in the Payette River after a head-on crash with another pick-up truck.
Watch Idaho crash story here:
Idaho state troopers identify Billings man missing in traffic accident
“I was able to find some people that saw a male, an adult man, swimming for the shore from the truck,” said Idaho State Trooper Richard Knapp, who attempted to rescue Giesick. “Unfortunately he didn’t make it. He got swept downriver. Witnesses lost sight of him, and that was the last time anybody saw him.”
Knapp says search crews looked extensively for the 40-year-old, but after 24 hours, it became a recovery effort for the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit.
After that on Monday came the monumental task of removing the pickup truck from the raging water.
“It was an intensive a recovery, honestly, our operators were tested, their knowledge was tested,” said Mark Boisvert, Code Red Towing owner. “They said it was a very extreme recovery for them, more than usual.”
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