Idaho | Firing squad chamber priced at $1M as state preps for next execution by lethal injection

The cost to maintain Idaho’s execution capabilities for prisoners sentenced to death, including upgrades to the area planned for a firing squad, has grown to nearly $1.3 million, according to the state’s prison system.

The Idaho Department of Correction issued notice last week of changes to its procedures for lethal injection. These changes include the construction of an “execution preparation room” just before prisoners enter the execution chamber at the state’s maximum-security prison south of Boise. There, execution team members, with help from a “qualified physician,” will decide whether to use a standard IV or heightened means to inject the lethal chemicals.

The state’s director of prisons recently supported the use of a central line IV — previously described as essentially a “surgical procedure” — for lethal injection if a prisoner’s veins are deemed nonviable for execution purposes. These policy and infrastructure updates come nearly eight months after Idaho prison officials called off the execution of death row prisoner Thomas Creech by lethal injection after about an hour due to the execution “medical team” being unable to find a suitable vein for an IV. This marked the first time in Idaho’s history that the state failed to execute a prisoner, and only the sixth time this has been recorded in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Creech, 74, is Idaho’s longest-serving death row prisoner, having spent 50 years in incarceration. He was issued another death warrant the day after the prison system announced these changes last week. His attorneys are pursuing several appeals as Creech awaits his rescheduled execution by lethal injection next month.

The cost for the design and construction of the preparation room next to the execution chamber was $314,000, according to Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic. The construction occurred over the summer and took about seven weeks. The Division of Building Safety issued permits for the construction and the building plan review in April, as reported by Idaho Public Television. Okland Construction in Boise performed the work, according to the building permit.

Last year, Idaho approved a law that made a firing squad the state’s backup execution method. However, the work to retrofit the execution chamber for this purpose has yet to be completed. The Legislature committed $750,000 to the prison system for this project. As part of the work on the preparation room, designs were also produced to incorporate future construction for the firing squad. The project is expected to take up to four months to complete and cost nearly $1 million, according to Kuzeta-Cerimagic. These costs and the timeline are based on an expedited timeframe, according to IDOC officials. They anticipate potential cost savings if the execution chamber’s transition for the firing squad is completed without such urgency.

“As I’ve said before, policy and infrastructure are intertwined,” IDOC Director Josh Tewalt told the Idaho Statesman in a July interview. “We can’t just build a footprint without being mindful of how that’s going to impact policy. So those two things have to happen concurrently, not necessarily consecutively.”

Tewalt also told the Statesman in February, shortly after the failed lethal injection of Creech, that all state executions would have to be paused during the construction period. Given that Idaho still has access to lethal injection drugs as the primary method for executions, the construction of the firing squad setup has not been prioritized.

In the past year, the prison system has acquired six doses of pentobarbital, a powerful sedative used in state executions, at a total cost of $150,000 — or $25,000 per dose. More than one dose is prepared for each execution in Idaho. Next month, Idaho plans to execute a death row prisoner for the first time since June 2012, marking only the third execution in the state in over 30 years.

Prison officials have not yet decided when construction will begin to accommodate a firing squad in the execution chamber, according to Kuzeta-Cerimagic. IDOC will likely need to return to the Legislature during the session starting in January to request additional funds — potentially as much as $500,000 — to complete the retrofit for the state’s backup execution method.

Creech is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 13. If carried out, it will be Idaho’s first execution in over 12 years.

Source: idahostatesman.com, Kevin Fixler, October 20, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Instagram | Telegram | Contact Us

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Former Florida officer who raped, murdered 11-year-old set to be executed

An execution date has been set for a former Mascotte police officer who, in May 1987, assaulted and murdered an 11-year-old girl. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for James Aren Duckett on Friday. He’s scheduled to be executed on March 31. It’ll be the state’s 5th execution this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025. Duckett was convicted in the murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee about a year after her death. According to officials, Duckett took the 11-year-old to a lake, where he sexually battered, strangled and drowned her.

Florida executes Billy Kearse

Florida executes man who killed Fort Pierce police officer during 1991 traffic stop Moments before receiving a lethal injection, Billy Kearse asked for forgiveness from the family of Danny Parrish, whose widow said she found peace after a "long, long 35 years.” A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop was executed Tuesday evening, becoming the third person put to death by Florida this year after a record 19 executions in 2025.

Chinese courts conclude trials of 2 criminal gangs from northern Myanmar, 16 sentenced to death

Chinese courts have concluded the trials of 2 major criminal groups based in northern Myanmar involved in telecom and online fraud, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Thursday. At a press conference held by the SPC, it was revealed that by the end of 2025, courts across the country had concluded first-instance trials of over 27,000 cases related to telecom fraud operations in northern Myanmar, with more than 41,000 returned suspects sentenced. Notably, among the trials of the so-called "4 major families" criminal gangs -- which had drawn widespread domestic and international attention -- those of the Ming and Bai groups have completed all judicial proceedings.

Florida | Governor DeSantis signs death warrant in 2008 murder case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael L. King, setting an execution date of March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. King was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2008 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old North Port mother. On January 17, 2008, Michael Lee King abducted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee from her North Port home by forcing her into his green Chevrolet Camaro. He drove her around while she was bound, including to his cousin's house to borrow tools like a shovel. King took her to his home, where he sexually battered her, then placed her in the backseat of his car. Later that evening, he drove to a remote area, shot her in the face, and buried her nude body in a shallow grave. Her remains were discovered two days later. During the crime, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made, but communication breakdowns between emergency dispatch centers delayed the response. The case drew national attention and prompted w...

Oklahoma Ends Indefinite Death Row Solitary Confinement

Every year, thousands of prisoners in the U.S. are placed in solitary confinement, where they endure isolation, abuse, and mental suffering . This practice might soon become rarer for some inmates in Oklahoma, thanks to the efforts of activists in the state. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma announced that the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester had ended the practice of indefinite solitary confinement for "the vast majority" of death row prisoners.

‘Come on with it’: Arkansas inmate asks to hasten execution

A Faulkner County judge has scheduled an August hearing to determine whether a death row inmate can bypass his attorney’s advice, drop his remaining appeals, and hasten his execution. Scotty Ray Gardner, 65, is facing the death penalty for the 2016 killing of his girlfriend, Susan Heather Stubbs, in Conway. In letters sent to Circuit Judge Chuck Clawson and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gardner said he wants to end his legal battles, writing that he is tired of prison life and skeptical he will receive a fair hearing. “It’s simple,” Gardner wrote in a September letter. “Come on with it.”

Florida Cop-killer Billy Kearse set to be executed today

A man who confessed to fatally shooting Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish with his own service weapon during a 1991 traffic stop is scheduled to be executed starting at 6 p.m. March 3, barring a last-minute stay. Billy L. Kearse, 53, will be the third person put to death by the state this year, just one week after the execution of Melvin Trotter, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford in Palmetto in 1986. The Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 12 denied a motion for a stay of execution and a motion for an extension due to the fading health and death of the father of Kearse's attorney. Attorneys for Kearse have filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, citing violations of the Sixth, Eighth and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution.

Man convicted in 1986 murder set to become Florida's second execution of 2026

STARKE, Fla. (DPN) — A man convicted of stabbing and strangling a grocery store owner during a robbery nearly 40 years ago is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening, becoming the second person executed in Florida this year. Melvin Trotter, 65, is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Trotter was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 killing of Virgie Langford, 70, who owned Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto, in southwest Florida's Manatee County.

Florida executes Melvin Trotter

The execution of Melvin Trotter for the murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford in 1986 comes as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor questions Florida's 'deeply troubling' lethal injection record. Florida has executed its second inmate of the year even as a Supreme Court justice questioned the state's “deeply troubling" record on lethal injections and how it "shrouds its executions in secrecy." Melvin Trotter, 65, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for the 1986 murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford, a mother of 4 who was on the verge of retirement when she was stabbed to death in the corner grocery store that she owned for five decades. Trotter was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. ET.

Texas Plans Second Execution of the Year

Cedric Ricks is set to be killed on March 11 Cedric Ricks spoke in his own defense at his 2013 murder trial, something most defendants accused of a terrible crime do not do. Ricks confessed that he had killed his girlfriend, Roxann Sanchez, and her 8-year-old son. He admitted he was aggressive and had trouble controlling his anger, stating that he was “sorry about everything.” The Tarrant County jury was unmoved. Ricks has spent the last 13 years on death row and is scheduled to be executed on March 11.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog