Idaho Halts Execution After Problems Inserting IV Line

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Feb, 2024) The execution by lethal injection of a convicted serial killer in Idaho was halted on Wednesday after a medical team was unable to insert an intravenous line.

Thomas Creech, 73, was strapped to a table in the execution chamber for an hour as repeated attempts were made to set an IV line to deliver the lethal drugs, prison officials and witnesses said.

Creech was one of two convicted murderers scheduled to be executed in the United States on Wednesday.

The other, Ivan Cantu, 50, was put to death in Texas by lethal injection for a double murder he insisted he did not commit.

The doubts about Cantu's guilt had drawn attention to his case from the Catholic Church and a number of celebrities including Kim Kardashian and "West Wing" star Martin Sheen.

Idaho Department of Corrections director Josh Tewalt said Creech's execution was called off after the failure of eight attempts to set an IV line in his arms and legs.

"We don't have an idea of timeframes or next steps at this point," Tewalt told reporters at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of the capital Boise. "Those are things we will be discussing in the days ahead."

Brenda Rodriguez, a reporter with the local KTVB television station, said Creech did not appear to have been in severe pain at any point although he did tell the medical staff at one stage that his "legs hurt a bit.

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"At the very end, when the execution was halted, he was just looking up," said Rodriguez, one of four media witnesses. "it felt like he was almost in relief."

Creech, who has been on Death Row for more than 40 years and was to have been the first person executed in Idaho in 12 years, was sentenced to die for murdering his cellmate in 1981 with a battery-filled sock.

He was imprisoned at the time after being convicted of five other murders, although he claimed to have committed dozens more.

There have been a number of botched executions in the United States in recent years, including a failed attempt in Alabama in November 2022 to execute convicted killer Kenneth Smith by lethal injection.

Smith was eventually put to death in January of this year in the first execution in the country to be carried out using nitrogen gas.

Most of the botched executions have involved difficulties in inserting the IV needles that deliver the lethal drugs, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.