Idaho denies petition to commute first execution in 17 years

An Idaho commission is declining to commute the death sentence for convicted murderer Paul Ezra Rhoades. Rhoades received life in prison for one murder, and the death penalty for brutally killing two other women in 1987. He's scheduled to die by lethal injection on Nov. 18 outside of Boise.

It will be the first execution in Idaho since 1994, and the second since 1957. Rhoades' attorneys submitted a petition for clemency, requesting life in prison for the 54-year-old inmate.

Olivia Craven is the executive director of the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole.

"We reviewed everything that the attorneys for Mr. Rhoades had submitted to us and they reviewed what the crimes were and the details of the crime, and made their decision to not grant a clemency hearing," she says.

This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. Rhoades still has a pending civil case in federal court that challenges Idaho's execution methods.

On the Web:

• Idaho Death Row

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