by Dennis “Abbadunamis” Mintun, Prison Journalism Project
April 14, 2024

In late February, my state of Idaho tried to execute a person for the first time in 12 years. According to an Idaho Statesman article, the execution team searched for an hour for a suitable vein to inject Thomas Creech with lethal drugs, but was unsuccessful. The execution was eventually aborted and he was sent back to death row. 

Creech has been incarcerated for nearly 50 years and on Idaho’s death row for close to 44 of those years. He has been convicted of five murders and received his death sentence after killing a disabled inmate in his prison in 1981. According to The Associated Press, he claimed to have killed as many as 50 people, but authorities believe the number of possible killings to be closer to a dozen people.  

As you can see, this man was once a bad person. “Was” is the key word in that sentence, because many people believe that Creech changed over close to five decades behind bars.

I have never met Creech, but I have spoken with a couple people who have, and they say he is a better man now — always polite, respectful and ready to help people in need. Creech is highly regarded at Idaho Maximum Security Institution, where he resides. Recently, I was being transported to an outside hospital for an MRI, and the corrections officers transporting me were having a conversation about Creech and how well-respected he was in the prison system. Even the judge who sentenced him to death and a former warden have supported taking him off death row.

Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt told The Associated Press in February that some corrections officers have “grown up” with Creech.

“I don’t want to be dismissive of what he did and the countless people who were impacted by that in real significant ways,” Tewalt told the wire service before Creech’s scheduled execution. “At the same time, you also can’t be dismissive of the effect it’s going to have on people who have established a relationship with him. On Thursday, Tom’s not going to be there. You know he’s not coming back to that unit — that’s real. It would be really difficult to not feel some sort of emotion about that.”

I believe that a person can change for the better, even someone who might have killed close to 50 people. This belief has been shaped over the nearly 22 years that I have spent behind bars. I’ve seen others change, and I have changed myself. I started a new religion during my incarceration, in large part, because of discrimination I faced from churches as a gay man. One of the things we teach is not holding people’s past against them, but accepting them as they are now.    

I wish that we could view Creech’s life that way. But many people have said Creech deserves to be killed. What would that accomplish? Who would his killing serve? 

In this case, it might serve family members of Creech’s victims. At least two family members have publicly called for his execution, asking for closure. 

Yet, we don’t know how every family member feels; and if some disagree with his execution, then how do we decide whose feelings are more valid? 

When I read interviews of victims’ families, it often sounds like they want to get on with their lives more than they want to see someone die. In several instances, family members of victims have spoken out against executions, according to a database from Death Penalty Information Center. 

Sometimes, they believe the inmate can be rehabilitated. Sometimes, they believe life in prison is the right punishment — still harsh, but providing the perpetrator an opportunity to live. Others cite the fact that killing another human won’t bring their loved one back. 

One quote in the database, from the daughter of a murder victim, stood out to me: “I cannot imagine what good it would do to kill a person who is incarcerated and away from the public. No one would be made safer. However, I can think of many people who would be harmed by his death — including his innocent family members and the prison workers who would be asked to carry out his execution. Not a single person would be healed.”

Other family members against executions have said they do not want to contribute to the racial disparities present in executions. As of early 2023, about 55% of people on death row were Black or Latino, compared to 33% of the U.S. population. There’s another glaring statistic from Death Penalty Information Center: “More than 75% of death row defendants who have been executed were sentenced to death for killing white victims, even though in society as a whole about half of all homicide victims are African American.”

Beyond racial imbalances, executing someone has often been torturous — and far from humane — even in modern times. One researcher identified  276 botched executions between 1890 and 2010 — 7% of all executions. For 2022, the percentage of botched executions was clocked at a whopping 35%.  

People have been poked with needles for hours, like Creech. In one case, a man’s arm was cut open to insert an IV. Other people have suffered in pain for extended periods of time, instead of experiencing the quick death they were promised.

Alabama, a notoriously tough-on-crime state, called for a moratorium on executions in 2022 while it investigated multiple botched executions. But earlier this year, the state returned to executions by killing Kenneth Smith with a new method: nitrogen suffocation. 

The state has claimed that Smith’s execution went smoothly, while witnesses have said he writhed violently in pain for minutes. Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana also have approved the new form of execution, and other states could follow. 

We had a chance to reconsider the inhumanity of executions; but instead, we just moved forward and found a new way to kill people. 

I am not necessarily protesting the death penalty categorically; but if the state is going to carry out killings, then it should explain why those killings are necessary and why they benefit society.

The specter of dying as a punishment for killing someone has also not stopped murders. If a person is intent on taking a life, they are probably not going to stop and say to themselves, “I might be put to death for this.” Either they believe they will get away with killing someone or they don’t care about the consequences. It doesn’t make sense to kill someone to show that killing shouldn’t be done. 

In my view, state executions just introduce pain and suffering into more people’s lives. And if it’s true that “hurt people hurt people,” as the saying goes, then we are contributing to further harm down the road.

Creech’s next execution attempt has not yet been scheduled, but the state will try again eventually.

(Additional reporting by PJP)

This article first appeared on Prison Journalism Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Dennis “Abbadunamis” Mintun is a writer incarcerated in Idaho.

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By Robert Schultz, Prison Journalism Project
April 9, 2024

Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” 

Then what can be said of a society that sends teenagers to prison?

In 2009, when I was 17 years old, I got involved in gang violence and was soon charged with first-degree murder. I’ve had many family members and friends who were locked up, which led me to expect incarceration for myself. Initially, I assumed I would face 20 to 60 years and only serve half my sentence.

I was sent to an adult division of the Cook County Jail in Chicago — even though I was just a teenager at the time. Then I learned that my prediction was wrong. I was informed that I was facing a 45-to-85-year sentence to be served fully, without parole or early release. Not once during my trial and sentencing did I appear before a juvenile court or stay in a juvenile detention center. My route to prison was the same path taken by adults.

A young man goes to prison

I fought my case from the county jail for two years. Most of it was spent anxiously waiting for a miracle. My lawyer attempted legal maneuvers to help me, but nothing was successful. Eventually, my co-defendant agreed to testify against me, and my lawyer advised me to plead guilty if the state agreed to waive a gun enhancement charge. In Illinois, if an adult uses a gun to murder someone, an additional 25 years is added to their sentence. 

In March 2012, at the age of 20, I pleaded guilty. I was given a 25-year sentence with no opportunity for parole or early release. 

From there, I was sent to Menard Correctional Center, a maximum security prison, where many inmates were 20 to 30 years older than me. Many of those men had also been sent to prison as teenagers or young adults.  

The prison was about six hours southwest of my hometown of Chicago. It provided little programming and had a reputation for violence. 

From the moment I entered the cell house, I was overwhelmed by how loud it was. Everyone was yelling over each other. It was only quiet at night, when I lay in bed and thought about all the opportunities and moments I had lost, and all the opportunities and moments I had yet to lose.

Constantly pondering these dark outcomes caused me to slip into depression for the first several months of my sentence. Every little thing began to irritate me, and I would let that irritation build to the point of combustion. There was no relief. I became a short-tempered person who reacted irrationally to small inconveniences even if they didn’t directly affect me much. This led to fights between cellmates and friction with my family.   

Lingering mental scars

The experience of prison at such a young age has nearly broken me. Mental scars still linger today. My lack of experiences outside of prison makes me feel insecure about my ability to be successful in a career, maintain mature relationships and have a fulfilling life after prison. I feel like I have to get all those things right on the first try because I don’t have many more chances if I fail. 

The idea of reentering the outside world makes me anxious. I read books aimed at helping people manage their thoughts. I have also found that sharing these thoughts with a group of people can be helpful. It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone and that others are attempting to overcome these same obstacles.

Throughout my incarceration, I have experienced weeks of hopelessness that I couldn’t escape. During these times, my mind raced whenever I tried to sleep. I would once again fall into deep thought about opportunities I had missed. 

Three years into my sentence, I went to a doctor. He told me I was dealing with anxiety and depression. This was new for me. Fear and sadness were never ruling emotions in my life. Before prison, I was often cheerful and energetic — someone who could brighten up a room. I didn’t know how to process my circumstances. 

These are common emotions for juveniles who are sent to adult prisons. According to a report last year from The Sentencing Project, youth detention facilities expose young people to abuse and impede their educational and career success. These youth are far more likely to have depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts than their peers who are not incarcerated. 

In other words, prison can create problems for young people that didn’t exist before. As of 2017, Illinois had about 1,100 people serving sentences that stemmed from an offense committed as a juvenile, according to a report from Restore Justice, a nonprofit focused on reforming the Illinois criminal legal system.

More reform needed

The national picture is even more astounding, although real progress has been made. Around 2001, almost 250,000 juveniles were tried as adults nationwide, according to The Sentencing Project. By 2019, that number had dropped to 53,000 youth. A massive improvement for sure, but prisons are still causing harmful mental consequences for the teenagers and young adults who grow old within them.

When I went to prison, Illinois had an automatic transfer law that allowed juveniles younger than 16 to be prosecuted as adults for a number of offenses. Reforms in 2015 raised the minimum age that someone can be tried as an adult to 16 years old, and narrowed the offenses. Now, to be tried as an adult, people must be at least 16 and on trial for first-degree murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault or aggravated battery with a firearm.

Illinois has ended gun enhancement sentences for juveniles. And the state has banned life-without-parole sentences for most juveniles who received their sentences after May 2019. But there is much work to do. Truth in sentencing, which requires offenders to serve substantial parts of their sentences and reduces the possibility of parole and earning good-time credit, still prevents many juveniles from earning time off of their sentences. 

And as important as some of these changes have been, they are for the most part not being applied retroactively. There is a 20-year gap for youth sentenced under the old rules who still have to serve their sentences under the harsher laws. 

I am one of these people. We are being kept in prisons for decades or a lifetime — well after we have grown into an adult and become a completely different person from the one who arrived at prison. It seems like folks on the outside have forgotten about us.

These changes would have helped me when I was sentenced by allowing my case to be reviewed by a juvenile court judge. That judge could have made the decision to try me as a juvenile. Instead, I was automatically tried as an adult. 

If these reforms were in place then, I would not have been facing up to 85 years in prison, the de-facto life sentence that influenced me to plead guilty in exchange for a shorter term. Instead, if I went to trial, I would have faced 40 years at most.

Most importantly, I would have had the ability to appear before a parole board after five years in prison. Instead, my 25-year sentence came with no chance at parole.

What comes next?

It’s tough to grow up in prison. I have tried to discover and define myself among people who are years older than me. There is rarely hope for a future on the outside beyond harder, lower-paying jobs, unless I find a different path for myself. Even if I find a good job, I believe I’ll still struggle with a lack of confidence for the rest of my life because of how young I was when I received this too-long sentence. It’s challenging to talk to my family about what I’ve been through because I don’t want to scare them. 

But we still have an opportunity to make things better. We need to divert our youth away from incarceration. And for those who already have been locked up, we need to consider that many of them will be released after years in prison, coming home profoundly damaged after spending formative years behind bars. I worry that if we don’t support them, they’ll fail to adjust during reentry and self-sabotage whenever they have a chance at happiness. 

The earliest I can leave prison is 2035. I will be 43 years old. I filed for clemency in 2020 because parole doesn’t exist as an option for me. On my application, I asked the governor to consider what life I am expected to live after coming to prison as a teenager and spending the next 25 years of my life behind bars. 

After all this time, once I return to the outside world, who am I supposed to be? Who does society want me to be?

This article first appeared on Prison Journalism Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Robert Schultz is a writer incarcerated in Illinois.

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Surviving Son of Alex Murdaugh Takes the Stand

WALTERBORO, SC – Richard Alexander “Buster” Murdaugh, Jr. took the stand on Tuesday in the case involving the murders of his mother, Maggie, and brother, Paul. Buster is the eldest son of the defendant, Alex Murdaugh.

After a long, holiday weekend court in Colleton County was back in session. Defense started the day with a peak into the Murdaugh family. Buster painted his family as loving and close as defense asked about things like growing up as the son of the defendant, the family – both immediate and extended, family get-togethers, and the phone calls on the day of the murders the state introduced. In all accounts, they were the all-American family, and Buster’s words seem to match those of other witnesses that had taken the stand before him; they were happy.

And when they did have disputes or disagreements, they handled them “like adults” and were “civil”; they talked about it. His father showed patience with him and his brother. They didn’t act with violence in their family.

As children, both Buster and Paul were into sports. Their parents made a point to attend all their games, with Alex coaching little league. Missing an event was a rare occurrence for the Murdaughs. He explained that his parents always made sure to call and explain to if they wouldn’t be able to attend.

The closeness of the family continued into his teen, and adult years, getting together for every holiday, weekends, and trips. This closeness extended to more than just the immediate family. Buster spoke of his grandparents Randolph “Handsome” (a nickname given by the grandkids) and Libby “M” Murdaugh, and Terry “Pappa T” and Kennedy Branstetter. His father, Alex and his father-in-law were close. Buster would spend a lot of time with his father and grandfather, doing things like playing golf. Holidays, trips, and weekends spent with both his paternal and maternal families.

The Days Before That Night

During the months of May and June of 2021, Handsome’s health was “not good”. It was cancer. His grandmother, M, had Alzheimer’s. His father would check on his parents regularly, Buster often coming along. Paul, also, made regular trips to his grandparent’s house. His mother, Maggie, would check on his grandparents but her visits were more sporadic.

There was fun during the weeks leading up to the tragic night, as well. A week prior to the murders, Memorial Day weekend, the family took time together with family and friends. A photo showed Buster with his mother and father on a boat, smiling. Defense then showed a video of a gathering and singing, celebrating Alex’s birthday. Maggie had made a birthday cake for her husband. And the defendant becomes noticeably emotion when younger son, Paul, comes into the frame.

That’s A Lot of Calls

All those phone calls and texts between the Murdaughs introduced by the state? Busters says, it’s “just the way we communicated”. He and his brother, Paul, would speak to their parents “pretty much every day, several times a day”. The frequent phone calls were just another “normal day in the life of Buster Murdaugh”, as the defense put it. Yes, his father called him at 9:10 the night of the murders. There was nothing unusual about either the phone call or his father’s demeanor. It was common for them to call when riding in the car and Alex called to check in and let him know he was going out to Almeda to check on Buster’s grandmother.

That Tragic Night

“He was heartbroken, destroyed.”

Buster on his father’s demeanor

The next phone call he would receives is from his father was after his mother’s and brother’s bodies were found. “He asked me if I was sitting down. I was like, yeah, and then he sounded odd and then he told me that my mom and brother had been shot.” He sat in shock. His girlfriend, Brooklyn, could hear the phone call and immediately started to pack. They then drove to Moselle, arriving sometime around 2 a.m.

“He was heartbroken, destroyed,” Buster responded when asked about his father’s demeanor. “I walked in the door and saw him and game a hug and just broke down.” His father was crying and unable to speak. They stayed there, along with other such as his Uncle Randy and Uncle John, around 3 to 4 hours then left for Almeda.

According to Buster, he and his father were rarely apart, with the exception of the 3-4 days he spent at the home of his maternal grandparent, from the moment he got to Moselle that early morning until after their Lake Kiwi trip on June 17. At which time he returned to his home, and back to work. He has never spent another night at Moselle.

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Prosecution Presents Video of Interrogation of Alex Murdaugh

WALTERBORO, SC – SLED agent and lead case agent on the Murdaugh case, David Owen, took the stand on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Agent Owen conducted the 3^rd interrogation of Alex Murdaugh. The court is shown the video of the interrogation.

The video of the interrogation shows Alex Murdaugh, friend of Alex and fellow attorney Cory Fleming, SLED Agent David Owen, and a second SLED agent. Agent Owen conducts the interview. Alex went into the station voluntarily; under the impression he would be getting updates on the case involving the murders of his wife and son. It soon became clear that wasn’t the case.

You can hear Cory Fleming asking, “Are you not asking him these questions as a suspect?” To which Agent Owen responded, “Any homicide investigation you start with the closest person and/or the person who found the deceased. In this case, that’s Alex.” At this time it is obvious that Alex is a suspect in the case.

The interrogation begins with a creation of the timeline of events for the day. They discuss the morning, and we learn Maggie and Alex were at the Moselle property alone, Paul having spent the night elsewhere. This stood out to me because there has been so much talk about Maggie moving out and so it would be as if Alex pushed her to be there that evening or she wouldn’t have been. This piece of information about Maggie having stayed the night there with Alex, alone, points to the contrary. Maggie had been staying at their other property because of work that was being done. According to Alex, “she was worried about [him] and [him being] worried about [his] dad so she came home” that evening.

Wardrobe Change

As the interrogation continues, the next part of the conversation that stood out to me is when Owen brings up the video of Alex with the tree, showing him in the khaki pants and seafoam collared shirt. The video is paused, and we go back to the courtroom where Prosecutor Creighton Waters asks Owen if he had questioned Alex about the tree video before that interview. Owen responds, “No sir, I had not” and we go back to the video and the conversation between Owen and Alex about the clothing.

“What point in the evening did you change your clothes?” – Detective Owen

“What time of day was that? I would have thought I’d already changed.” – Alex Murdaugh, referencing the tree video.

“Looks to me about dusk. 7:30 to 8:00.”

“I guess I would have changed when I got back to the house.”

This was disappointing to me. Up until this point, I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt that, if the defense is sticking with the napping narrative (Alex claims to have napped before leaving to check on his mother) then it was quite possible that he took off the day’s clothes before lying down and put on the t-shirt and shorts after waking up. This seemed plausible since it’s a common thing to do.

Was He, Or Wasn’t He, At The Kennels

We have now reached the point where Owen questions Alex about going to the kennels. Alex has maintained that he was not at the kennels before going to his mother’s house. The conversation went like this:

“You didn’t go back down [to the kennels] after dinner until you returned from visiting your mother?” – Owen

“Yes, sir.” – Alex

“I’ve got information that Paul’s (inaudible) and Maggie was heard in the background, and you were heard in the background and that was prior to 9pm” – Owen

“I heard Rogan Gibson ask me if I was up there. He said he thought it was me.” – Alex

“Was it you?” – Owen

“At 9 o’clock?” – Alex

“Yes, sir.” – Owen

“No, sir. Not if my times are right.” – Alex

“Do you think it could have been?” – Owen

“I have no idea.” – Alex

He has no idea. This is not the answer I was expecting. I am not going to go into opinions, speculations, etc. so I will leave this for you to ponder and make of it what you will.

Just A Few Things to Clear Up

They go on to discuss Alex’s shotguns and what he loads them with. We learn that, according to Alex, he loads his guns with “all kinds [of shot]. [He’s] loaded bird shot, buck shot, slugs,” but not normally at the same time. The shells recovered at the scene were bird shot and buck shot. The gun Alex had on him that night was loaded with bird shot and buck shot.*

Had Paul ever gotten physical (violent) with either Maggie or Alex? According to Alex, never with his mother but once with him. Alex clarifies that he (Paul) was drunk at the time. There is an attempt to clarify the time Alex left work the evening of the murders. There’s not too much discrepancy between what the agent says, Alex claims, and information they got from Alex’s brother, Randy. Alex was at work when Randy left at 6p.m. Alex replies that if he was it wasn’t long after that he left. According to the OnStar timeline given in later testimony by another witness, Alex pulls out of work at 6:24p.m.

The interview finishes with Owen asking Alex if he killed Maggie and Paul. To which Alex responds that no, he did not kill them. It’s clear from Owen’s next statement that he does not believe him, “I have to go where the evidence and the facts take and I don’t have anything that points to anybody else at this time.”

One Final Thought

We’ve reached the end of the interview. Detective Owen leaves us with a last thought saying that they have “nobody else’s DNA” at the crime scene. According to the DNA witness, unknown DNA profile found under Maggie’s fingernails.

*The information given in the interview video concerning the loads in the guns found at the hose was shown to be false.

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ST. JOHNS, Florida – A guilty plea has been entered in the case of State of Florida vs. Aiden Sean Fucci.

On Monday, February 6, 2023, the day jury selection was set to begin, the defendant, Aiden Fucci, accompanied by his attorneys, pleaded guilty to the charge of first-degree murder. This was a straight plea to the court as no plea agreement had been met between the state and defense.

Fucci, 14 years old at the time, killed classmate Tristyn Bailey, 13, on Mother’s Day 2021. Tristyn’s body was found in a wooded area next to a retention pond. She had been stabbed 114 times, including numerous appearing to have been defensive wounds.

The next steps in the case will be in respect to the punishment phase. A sentencing hearing is expected to be schedule for the month of March or April. The next court appearance for Fucci is for the status hearing, scheduled for February 23, 2023, at 9 a.m. Fucci is facing a possible punishment of 40 years to life with a sentence review in 25 years.

Fucci made a brief statement at the end of today’s hearing, “I just want to say I plead not guilty and I’m sorry for the Bailey family and my family.” That first part I listened to many times and every time I heard “not guilty”. This is something that leaves me curious to know if I am the only one that heard those words and what the official court transcripts recorded.

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ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida – Jury selection for the trial of State of Florida vs. Aiden Sean Fucci is set to begin Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, at 9 a.m. The trial will be held in Courtroom 264 of the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court in St. Johns County.

The defendant, Aiden Sean Fucci, is accused of the alleged murder of classmate Tristyn Bailey, 13 years old. Fucci has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, a capital felony. Despite his age at the time of the crime, fourteen, the state has charged Fucci as an adult. If convicted, the sentence for this charge will be life in prison, no possibility of parole. He is not eligible for the death penalty due to his being a juvenile at the time of the incident.

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