Arave v. Creech

Facts

Thomas Creech (Defendant), an inmate already serving life sentences for numerous first-degree murders, killed fellow inmate David Jensen at the Idaho State Penitentiary. Defendant gave conflicting accounts of the events, but the court found that Jensen approached Defendant with a battery-filled sock, which Defendant took and with which Defendant struck Jensen in the head. After the struggle continued, Defendant repeatedly kicked Jensen in the throat and head, even though Jensen was already helpless and badly injured. Jensen later died. Defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. The trial judge held a sentencing hearing and found that Defendant was initially justified in protecting himself from Jensen’s attack, but Defendant was completely in control after the attack began, and the murder itself was alarmingly violent, indicating severe rage. The judge found five aggravating circumstances present, including that Defendant exhibited “utter disregard for human life,” and concluded that any mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating factors. Defendant was sentenced to death. The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed, expressing that the limiting construction it had placed on the “utter disregard for human life” language inState v. Osborn,631 P.2d 187 (1981), was adequate and concluding that the phrase is meant to refer to circumstances that exhibit “the highest, the utmost callous disregard for human life, i.e., the cold-blooded, pitiless slayer.” Defendant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with Defendant that the “utter disregard” language was unconstitutionally vague.