Idaho pauses executions into 2026 as prison system preps for firing squad

Idaho's state prison system has suspended all executions and execution-related procedures, including lethal injection, at least until the end of 2025.

This suspension is due to the upcoming transition to firing squad executions as the state's primary method of capital punishment, a change that necessitates significant renovations to the execution chamber at the maximum-security prison.

The new law prioritizing the controversial firing squad method is set to take effect in July 2026.

The Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) announced that it will begin renovating the state’s execution chamber, located in F-Block at the prison complex south of Boise.

The project is expected to take six to nine months to complete, with F-Block being taken completely offline starting May 23, 2025, for the construction.

While the final cost is not yet available, a previous estimate for the remodel was nearly US$1 million.

Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a D.C.-based nonprofit that tracks capital punishment but takes no position on it, questioned the state's investment. She suggested that Idaho voters should consider whether such a "tremendous investment of time, money and resources" into pursuing more executions is preferable to funding community safety projects and victim family resources.

Despite these concerns, IDOC is confident it will meet the required timelines and budgetary demands for the firing squad project in advance of the July 1, 2026, effective date.

Idaho is one of 27 U.S. states with capital punishment. While five of these states have firing squads as a backup method, Idaho will be the only one to have it as its main method after Governor Brad Little signed the new law.

Lethal injection will become the state's backup. Historically, Idaho executed prisoners by hanging until 1978, when it shifted to lethal injection, a method used for three executions since then.

The state has not executed a prisoner in nearly 13 years, with the last execution occurring in June 2012.

A recent attempt in February 2024 to execute Thomas Creech, the state's longest-serving death row prisoner, failed when the execution team could not find a suitable vein for lethal injection drugs.

Creech, 74, survived the attempt and remains in legal limbo, with a constitutional rights claim challenging a second execution attempt currently under federal judicial review.

Creech is one of nine prisoners on Idaho's death row, a group that recently includes Chad Daybell and potentially Bryan Kohberger, whose capital murder trial is scheduled for this summer.

Adding to the complexities, a federal judge had already barred the state prison system from pursuing executions until upgrades were made to allow witnesses access to the room where lethal injection drugs are prepared and administered.

This ruling followed a lawsuit by three media outlets, including the Statesman, seeking such access.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Debora Grasham cited precedents from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which generally rules in favor of public interest in upholding First Amendment principles.

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office, representing IDOC, appealed this preliminary injunction last week to the 9th Circuit Court.

Source: idahostatesman.com, Kevin Fixler, May 28, 2025

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

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog