After failed Idaho execution, stepbrother of Thomas Creech victim urges firing squad

Kirk Guidinger and his family were waiting for the text message saying Thomas Creech was dead.

They had decided not to attend the execution of the man who beat and killed their family member with a sock full of batteries in prison 43 years ago.

Guidinger’s stepbrother, David Jensen, was Creech’s last victim, part of five convicted murders spanning three states. Creech, 73, is suspected of at least a half-dozen other killings, and at one point, he claimed to have killed dozens of people.

“We all decided we weren’t going to go see him die because we thought it would be like revenge,” Guidinger told EastIdahoNews.com. “We just waited for the attorney general to tell us it was done.”

The execution was scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday. Guidinger, who lives in Idaho Falls, said his family spent the morning celebrating Jensen by listening to his favorite music (‘Play That Funky Music’) and watching his favorite TV shows (“Daniel Boone” and “Davy Crockett”).

“Then I get this text around 11 from the Attorney General’s Office that says it didn’t happen because he (Creech) was dehydrated,” Guidinger recalled. “I figured that was just par for the course after 40-some years.”

The execution was halted after prison officials were unable to establish a suitable vein for an IV eight times in Creech’s arms and legs. After nearly a half-century of incarceration, the state’s longest-serving death row prisoner went back to his cell.

Guidinger was left frustrated.

“We wanted some closure. We were always wondering what makes him so important. There are guys that have killed two people and two years later they are put out,” Guidinger said. “This guy is just living off the state — our tax money and everything. We are wondering why. Why is it taking so long to get rid of a serial killer who has killed so many people?”

Jensen was serving time for car theft in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution when he died in 1981. The 22-year-old had the mentality of a 12-year-old and was physically disabled, according to Guidinger.

One day, Jensen spilled milk in the prison cafeteria and Creech was ordered to mop it up, Guidinger said.

“He was mad at my brother for spilling it so he beat him to death with a sock full of batteries and stomped his head through a grate,” Guidinger said.

Creech was initially sentenced to death for killing two painters in Idaho in 1974. After the U.S. Supreme Court barred automatic death sentences in 1976, his sentence was converted to life in prison.

That changed after he killed Jensen and he was on death row again. Jensen’s relatives opposed Creech’s bids for clemency. Guidinger said they don’t necessarily support the death penalty, but this case is different.

“We’re really not for it, but for somebody like him, there’s no way he’s ever going to get cleared of any murders. We are for it for him not just because of David, but there are so many other victims, and some of them don’t even know he did it,” Guidinger said. “There’s a chance somebody might be cleared after they are executed, with forensics and other stuff. But not in this case.”

Guidinger said he believes Creech purposely dehydrated himself Wednesday because he was scared to die. Creech’s death warrant has now expired.

In response to a question at a news conference this week, Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt said he had no reason to believe that Creech dehydrated himself as a “countermeasure.” Tewalt went to the Capitol on Thursday to talk to lawmakers and other officials about what happened and possible next steps.

The Idaho Legislature passed a law last year authorizing execution by firing squad when lethal injection is not available. A policy for use of firing squad has not been written and the state does not have a facility to carry out such executions.

Guidinger said he’d like to see Creech be the first inmate executed by firing squad.

“No sense of wasting any more taxpayer money on somebody who shouldn’t be there,” he said. “This isn’t just about David. There are a lot of other victims and we’re keeping all of them in mind. Now we have another waiting game. Hope it’s not too long. Let’s get it done.”