The population of Idaho’s death row has been slowly shrinking, in part because some previously condemned inmates have won appeals, been resentenced to life in prison, or died of natural causes.
More than 40 people have been sentenced to death in Idaho since the 1970s, but only three people have been executed during that span – the last being Richard Albert Leavitt in 2012.
Currently, there are eight people on Idaho’s death row, including the most recent addition, Jonathan Renfro, who was condemned in 2017 for the shooting death of a Coeur d’Alene police officer. His post-conviction relief petition is still pending in court.
Also among those on death row is Gerald Pizzuto, who arrived on death row in 1986 following his murder conviction in connection with the beating deaths of two people in Idaho County. His appeal has focused on whether he has shown that he is intellectually disabled, since federal law prohibits the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Earlier this year a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that Pizzuto failed to show he met the criteria to be considered intellectually disabled. Pizutto’s attorneys are now asking the full 9th Circuit to consider the case.
The longest serving inmate on Idaho’s death row is Thomas Creech, who was already serving two life sentences for a double murder in Valley County when law enforcement officers said he beat a fellow inmate to death. He’s been on death row since 1983, and his appeal of his conviction in the inmate’s murder is still moving forward in federal court.
The only woman on Idaho’s death row is Robin Row, sentenced to death in 1993 in connection with the arson deaths of her husband, son and daughter in Ada County. Her appeal is awaiting a ruling in Idaho’s U.S. District Court. (AP)
