For nearly 50 years, Idaho’s prison staffers have been serving Thomas Eugene Creech three meals a day, checking on him during rounds and taking him to medical appointments.
This Wednesday, some of Idaho’s prison staffers will be asked to kill him. Barring any last-minute stay, the 73-year-old, one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates, will be executed by lethal injection for killing a fellow prisoner with a battery-filled sock in 1981.
Creech’s killing of David Jensen, a young, disabled man who was serving time for car theft, was his last in a broad path of destruction that saw Creech convicted of five murders in three states. He is also suspected of at least a half-dozen others.
But now, decades later, Creech is mostly known inside the walls of the Idaho Maximum Security Institution as just “Tom,” a generally well-behaved old-timer with a penchant for poetry. His unsuccessful bid for clemency even found support from a former warden at the penitentiary, prison staffers who recounted how he wrote them poems of support or condolence and the judge who sentenced Creech to death.
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“Some of our correctional officers have grown up with Tom Creech,” Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt said Friday. “Our warden has a long-standing relationship with him… There’s a familiarity and a rapport that has been built over time.”
Creech’s attorneys have filed a flurry of last-minute appeals in four different courts in recent months trying to halt the execution, which would be Idaho’s first in 12 years. They have argued Idaho’s refusal to say where its execution drug was obtained violates his rights and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel.
A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday rejected an argument that Creech should not be executed because he was sentenced by a judge rather than a jury.
It’s not clear how many people Creech, an Ohio native, killed before he was imprisoned in Idaho in 1974. At one point he claimed to have killed as many as 50 people, but many of the confessions were made under the influence of now discredited “truth serum” drugs and filled with outlandish tales of occult-driven human sacrifice and contract killings for a powerful motorcycle gang.
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The execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution is shown where Thomas Eugene Creech is set to be executed. Photo / AP
Official estimates vary, but authorities tend to focus on 11 deaths. Creech’s attorneys did not immediately return phone calls from the Associated Press.
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In 1973, Creech was tried for the murder of 70-year-old Paul Schrader, a retiree who was stabbed to death in the Tucson, Arizona, motel where Creech was living. Creech used Schrader’s credit cards and vehicle to leave Tucson for Portland, Oregon. A jury acquitted him, but authorities say they have no doubt he was responsible.
The next year, Creech was committed to Oregon State Hospital for a few months. He earned a weekend pass and traveled to Sacramento, California, where he killed Vivian Grant Robinson at her home. Creech then used Robinson’s phone to let the hospital know he would return a day late. That crime went unsolved until Creech later confessed while in custody in Idaho; he wasn’t convicted until 1980.
After he was released from the Oregon State Hospital, Creech got a job at a church in Portland doing maintenance work. He had living quarters at the church, and it was there he shot and killed 22-year-old William Joseph Dean in 1974. Authorities believe he then fatally shot Sandra Jane Ramsamooj at the Salem grocery store where she worked.
Creech was finally arrested in November 1974. He and a girlfriend were hitchhiking in Idaho when they were picked up by two painters, Thomas Arnold and John Bradford. Creech shot both men to death and the girlfriend co-operated with authorities.
While in custody, Creech confessed to a number of other killings. Some appeared to be fabricated, but he provided information that led police to the bodies of Gordon Lee Stanton and Charles Thomas Miller near Las Vegas, and of Rick Stewart McKenzie, 22, near Baggs, Wyoming.
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Creech initially was sentenced to death for killing the painters. But after the US Supreme Court barred automatic death sentences in 1976, his sentence was converted to life in prison.
That changed after he killed Jensen, who was serving time for car theft. Jensen’s life hadn’t been easy: He suffered a nearly fatal gun injury as a teen that left him with serious disabilities including partial paralysis.
Jensen’s relatives opposed Creech’s bid for clemency. They described Jensen as a gentle soul and a prankster who loved hunting and spending time outdoors, who was “the peanut butter” to his sister’s jelly. His daughter, who was 4 when he was killed, spoke of how she never got to know him, and how unfair it was that Creech is still around when her father isn’t.
Creech’s supporters, meanwhile, say decades spent in a prison cell have left him changed. One death row prison staffer told the parole board last month that while she cannot begin to understand the suffering Creech dealt to others, he is now a person who makes positive contributions to his community. His execution date will be difficult for everyone at the prison, she said, especially those who have known him for years.
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“I don’t want to be dismissive of what he did and the countless people who were impacted by that in real significant ways,” said Tewalt, the corrections director. “At the same time, you also can’t be dismissive of the effect it’s going to have on people who have established a relationship with him. On Thursday, Tom’s not going to be there. You know he’s not coming back to that unit — that’s real. It would be really difficult to not feel some sort of emotion about that.”
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Board of Environmental Quality Wednesday pulled back a permit granted last year to Perpetua Resources for its planned gold and antimony mine at Stibnite in Valley County.
The Nez Perce Tribe and multiple conservation groups had appealed the air permit, saying it allowed excessive dust-based toxic air pollution beyond the mine’s boundaries, threatening land users with carcinogens like arsenic. The main focus of the challenge was the permit’s “project-specific adjustment factor for ambient concentration.” State rules do allow an “acceptable risk” level of contaminants released into the air, depending on a variety of factors.
The permit DEQ granted Perpetua allowed greater emissions than generally allowed because of the way expected toxic air emissions (known as Ambient Air Concentration for Carcinogen, or AACC) were calculated over the 16-year predicted life of the mine versus a standard human life span, explained the Idaho Conservation League’s Will Tiedemann.
“It’s kind of like saying, if you were allowed so much arsenic to be exposed to in 70 years, let’s allow Perpetua to emit that much arsenic in just 16 years,” he said.
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ICL was among the groups challenging the air permit, and have filed multiple challenges to the proposed mine over other environmental concerns.
DEQ board members ultimately agreed that pro-rating emissions in that way was not a safe calculation.
“DEQ’s project specific adjustment factor creates a new, higher level of cancer risk for 16 years,” said board Vice President J Randy MacMillan during Wednesday’s determination meeting. He said the approved permit did not fit within any measure of ‘acceptable risk’ identified in the state’s air quality rules.
MacMillan spoke at length Wednesday from a prepared statement regarding the board’s reasoning behind remanding that portion of the air permit. The board in March heard oral arguments over the issue, but deliberated in closed executive session before primarily relying on MacMillan to speak publicly.
“By applying the, what I would call short sighted, project-specific adjustment factor to the Stibnite Gold project,” he said. “DEQ created a misleading risk analysis that greatly underestimates the actual cancer risk.”
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The board unanimously voted to pull the permit back to DEQ to be reworked based on that finding. It upheld several other aspects of the permit which had also been challenged by the outside groups.
It’s not clear how the decision could affect Perpetua’s planned site operations. The air permit is one of a handful of ‘major’ permits needed to fully operate, in addition to approvals through the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process. A Forest Service spokesman said the final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision for the Stibnite Gold project should be released this summer, with a final record of decision issued by the end of the year. Those dates are only estimates.
Prep work at Stibnite has been underway for several years already, including as of 2022, SuperFund-sponsored cleanup of some previous mining leftovers. Perpetua has long said their plan is to mine the area and fully remediate their impact and the mess previous companies left behind after decades of mining.
Perpetua could appeal the DEQ board’s decision in state court. In a statement, the company characterized the board’s action as remanding only a ‘narrow issue’ for additional review, and said it will work with DEQ to respond. But Perpetua reserved additional reaction until after it receives the full written order from DEQ May 9.
Tiedemann called the board’s decision a big win that validates opposition groups’ concerns about the project.
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“It’s maybe not as glamorous or as romanticized as water,” Tiedemann said. “But harmful effects on air quality can be just as significant and harmful to human health and the environment as water pollution. And so I think it’s an important win.”
A lawsuit over the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s killing of three grizzly bears in Eastern Idaho has been settled, with potential implications beyond the state’s borders.
A Montana-based nonprofit, Save the Yellowstone Grizzly, filed suit against Fish and Game and the federal government after the state killed a sow and two cubs near Tetonia in November 2021.
“They were not getting into the garbage. They were not threatening or harassing people,” said Graham Coppes, an attorney representing the advocacy group.
The lawsuit alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act, including claims that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) illegally authorized the killing of the sow and one cub and that Idaho killed the second cub without USFWS approval. The federal agency had a potential relocation site for the cub in mind.
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In response, Idaho Fish and Game acknowledged that the federal agency had concerns about killing the bears and had urged the state to pursue non-lethal options. Idaho said it attempted to dart and trap the remaining cub as part of these efforts.
However, the state said that the USFWS “did not make it clear to Idaho that [it] would consider lethal removal of the second young bear to be unauthorized if non-lethal methods were unsuccessful.”
According to Fish and Game, the bears, which had recently been relocated from Gardiner, Mont., were wandering near a rural subdivision and posed a risk to public safety.
Additionally, Idaho filed a counterclaim against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying the state shouldn’t be subject to the Endangered Species Act for these bears, which it contends don’t qualify for protection.
“Because they have recovered,” said Kathleen Trever, a deputy attorney general. “And, the entity that is on the list does not meet the definition of a species that is [protected].”
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Grizzly bears have been listed as “threatened” under the ESA since 1975. A year ago, the federal government rejected Idaho’s petition to delist grizzly bears across the contiguous U.S., saying it “failed to present any credible scientific” information. At the same time, it moved forward with other petitions to consider delisting in two specific recovery areas, including the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
However, the settlement in this case could effectively open the door to delisting across the lower 48 once again. Under the agreement, the USFWS will revise or remove protections for the bears by Jan. 31, 2026.
“This action will allow the Service to evaluate the listed entity for grizzly bears in the lower 48 within a modern ESA framework,” USFWS spokesperson Joe Szuszwalak wrote in an email, “including consideration of updated science, additional information, and policies enacted since the entity was listed in 1975, including the Service’s 1996 policy for evaluating distinct population segments for listing, delisting, and reclassification under the ESA.”
The process will involve proposed rulemaking and a public comment period.
The fact that USFWS will now reconsider Idaho’s delisting request concerns some conservation advocates, including Kristine Akland, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, who was not involved with the case.
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“It’s an incredibly unfortunate result of this lawsuit,” Akland said.
Still, Coppes, the attorney for Save the Yellowstone Grizzly, noted that the USFWS could end up making only a minimal change to the ESA listing. It’ll still need to follow the science, he said. Also, under the settlement, Idaho confirmed that it would seek an agreement with the USFWS before lethally removing any ESA-listed bear.
Meanwhile, federal officials announced plans last week to reintroduce grizzly bears to North Cascades National Park in Washington, and they are considering reintroduction efforts in the Bitterroot Recovery Area, which includes parts of Montana and Idaho.
Biden to nominate former FRA head Batory, Idaho transit official Clegg for Amtrak board – Trains
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biden-to-nominate-former-fra-head-batory-idaho-transit-official-clegg-for-amtrak-board https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/biden-to-nominate-former-fra-head-batory-idaho-transit-official-clegg-for-amtrak-board/ Biden to nominate former FRA head Batory, Idaho transit official Clegg for Amtrak board – Trains WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will nominate former Federal Railroad Admininstration Administrator Ron Batory and Elaine Marie Clegg, CEO of Valley Regional Transit in Idaho’s Ada and Canyon counties, to serve on Amtrak’s Board of Directors, the White House announced today (May 2). Batory, now a resident of New Mexico, and Clegg, of Boise, Idaho, […]Read More… https://www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BatoryNEW.jpg InStock USD 1.00 1.00 news-wire news-reviews article TRN 2024-05-02 2024-05-02
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News & ReviewsNews WireBiden to nominate former FRA head Batory, Idaho transit official Clegg for Amtrak board
Nominees of two western residents will address concerns over board’s geographic makeup
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Former FRA administrator Ron Batory will be nominated to serve on Amtrak’s board of directors. David Lassen
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will nominate former Federal Railroad Admininstration Administrator Ron Batory and Elaine Marie Clegg, CEO of Valley Regional Transit in Idaho’s Ada and Canyon counties, to serve on Amtrak’s Board of Directors, the White House announced today (May 2).
Batory, now a resident of New Mexico, and Clegg, of Boise, Idaho, would help address the geographic requirements that have been a stumbling block in filling board vacancies [see “Senators challenge Northeast Corridor tilt of Amtrak board nominees …,” Trains News Wire, April 26, 2023, and “Senate confirms three nominees …,” News Wire, Jan. 24, 2024].
Batory’s lengthy resume in the rail industry spans more than 45 years, and includes stints as president of the Belt Railway of Chicago and CEO of Conrail Shared Assets. He also recently served as the trustee of the CP-Kansas City Southern Voting Trust, overseeing KCS prior to the approval of the CPKC merger. He served as FRA administrator from February 2018 to January 2021, overseeing the implementation of positive train control and publication of a final governing Amtrak on-time performance on host railroads, among other accomplishments.
Amtrak board nominee Elaine Clegg outside the Boise Depot, the 1925 Union Pacific station now a city events facility. Valley Regional Transit
Clegg has spent 25 years as a public servant focusing on transportation and land use, including nearly 20 years on the Boise City Council; she has been Valley Regional Transit’s CEO since February 2023.
“I am deeply honored to be given this opportunity by the Biden-Harris administration to join the Amtrak Board of Directors and contribute to the advancement of rail transportation in our country,” Clegg said in a press release. “I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to ensure Amtrak continues to serve the needs of passengers and communities across America. It is especially exciting to have a chance to serve at this time as passenger rail is making a comeback and to represent the West as it seeks rail expansion.”
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Both nominees must be confirmed by the Senate and would serve five-year terms.
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