Keith Eugene Wells (May 11, 1962 – January 6, 1994) was an American murderer convicted of the 1990 murders of John Justad and Brandi Rains in
Boise, Idaho.
He was executed in 1994 by the state of
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
at the
Idaho Maximum Security Institution
Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI) is a maximum-security prison located near Kuna, Idaho, one of a cluster of seven detention facilities known as the "South Boise Prison Complex". The other prisons in the area are the Correctional Alternati ...
via
lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
, only one year and nine months after having been sentenced to death by Judge
Gerald Schroeder
Gerald Lawrence Schroeder is an Orthodox Jewish physicist, author, lecturer and teacher at College of Jewish Studies Aish HaTorah's Discovery Seminar, Essentials and Fellowships programs and Executive Learning Center, who focuses on what he per ...
.
Wells was the first person to be executed in Idaho since
Raymond Snowden was hanged in 1957, and only the tenth since Idaho gained statehood. He chose not to appeal the death sentence, although it was appealed on his behalf. The
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
rejected an appeal filed against his wishes.
Early life
Keith Eugene Wells was born on May 11, 1962, in
Moab, Utah, the sixth of eight children born to Paul and Loral Wells.
He was raised in
Pocatello, Idaho
Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the ...
, by his family, who were close-knit
Mormons
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
.
Wells started experimenting with alcohol and cigarettes from the age of 4, and was smoking pot by the age of 10 or 11. Court reports showed Wells got in trouble at grade school, where he got into fighting and truancy. He also stole money and household items from family and friends.
By the time Wells had reached ninth grade, he had a drug problem, with the habit costing him $200 a month for
amphetamines
Substituted amphetamines are a class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substituting, one or more hydrogen atoms in the amphetamine core structure with sub ...
and
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
. Between the ages of 13 and 14, he was regularly stealing to pay for his drug addiction. According to Wells, between 1975 and 1978, he was involved in a total of thirty thefts and assaults, resulting in him getting in trouble with the law or being arrested.
Wells was first jailed at the age of 15 for vandalism. At age 17, he was imprisoned and later released, but would not stay out of prison for long. He was released from prison a total of three times for a variety of different offenses.
Murders
In December 1989, Wells, who by now was a convicted robber and parole violator, was paroled for the final time. A year later, he earned minimum supervision and was required to only meet with his parole officer once every six months.
On December 20, 1990, a customer entered the Rose Pub in
Boise, Idaho in the early hours. When no one came to serve them, they looked around the bar and found the bodies of two people in a back room. They were identified as 23-year-old John Justad and 20-year-old Brandi Rains. Rains was the bartender at the tavern, while Justad, who worked for a local beer distributor, was a customer. Both had been beaten severely over the head with a blunt object and had been bludgeoned to death. At first, police believed robbery was the motive, as money was missing from the cash register. It was then learned that the perpetrator had fled the bar through the back door and had left footprints in the snow. Police followed the footprints but lost them at a nearby intersection.
Following the discovery of the bodies, both victims were taken to the St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, where they died a short time later. Evidence suggested Justad had fought back against his attacker. Boise police later released a drawing of a man who was being sought for questioning.
Arrest and trial
Four months later on April 23, 1991, Wells was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder in the slayings of Justad and Rains. A judge ordered that he be held without bail and set a preliminary hearing for May 8. The preliminary hearing began on June 5. A police detective testified that Wells had confessed on two occasions to killing both victims at the bar.
Wells changed his story multiple times. According to the detective, Wells initially claimed that he beat both victims to death because they owed him $3,000 for cocaine. However, he later told the detective he had lied and changed his story, this time claiming that he went to the bar with two other people who were his cocaine suppliers. He claimed he retrieved money from Justad and returned it to his suppliers, who then told him he needed to return to the bar to get them more money. He then entered the bar with the suppliers, who hit Justad with a baseball bat multiple times until he was dead and handed Wells the weapon. He claimed the suppliers were the real killers.
During the week of June 10, 1991, Wells pleaded innocent in 4th District Court to both murders. His trial began on October 15, with the jury, consisting of seven women and five men, being selected on October 11. On October 24, the jury found Wells guilty, and he was convicted on two counts of first degree murder. On April 7, 1992, District Judge
Gerald F. Schroeder
Gerald Frank Schroeder (born September 13, 1939) is a former American attorney and jurist who served as chief justice of Idaho. He was appointed to the court in 1995 by Governor Phil Batt, and was elected chief justice by his peers in 2004. He se ...
sentenced Wells to death.
Appeals and confession
In February 1993, Wells asked to drop all his appeals in court and just allow his execution to proceed. He said he did not want to spend the remainder of his life in a cell, and had already tried to commit suicide following the murder conviction. He also maintained that delaying his execution would only cause pain to his own family as well as the families of his victims.
He eventually confessed to the crime and admitted to the real reason behind the killings. From
death row
Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...
, Wells did a telephone interview claiming he wanted to clean his conscience and admit the truth. At the time of the murders, Wells had been on parole for armed robbery and was full of frustration and anger.
According to Wells, he left his home on the night of December 19, 1990, knowing that he would kill someone that night. He had no real reason for selecting his victims but admitted neither provoked nor angered him. He arrived at the Boise Rose Pub armed with a baseball bat which he left at the back of the bar upon arrival. After spending over two hours at the tavern, he retrieved the baseball bat and bludgeoned Justad and Rains. First, he killed Justad as he came out of the bathroom, then turned on Rains when she came to see what was happening. He later disposed of the bat by burning it in a fireplace. He stated "it was time for them to die."
Execution
In the early hours of January 6, 1994, Wells was executed via
lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
at the
Idaho Maximum Security Institution
Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI) is a maximum-security prison located near Kuna, Idaho, one of a cluster of seven detention facilities known as the "South Boise Prison Complex". The other prisons in the area are the Correctional Alternati ...
in
Kuna, Idaho
Kuna ( ) is a city in Ada County, Idaho. It is part of the Boise metropolitan area. The population was 24,011 at the time of the 2020 census.
Kuna is one of the fastest-growing areas in Idaho, having nearly tripled in population between 2000 a ...
. Ninety minutes before the execution began, he apologized to the families of his victims for the first time. The execution began at 12:40 a.m. and Wells was pronounced dead at 12:50 a.m. He had no official final words. His
last meal
A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be.
Contemporary restrictions in the United States
In the United States, most states gi ...
consisted of whole lobster, well-done prime rib, fried potatoes, salad with tomatoes and onions and Italian dressing, two pints of ice cream, a half gallon of milk, a two-liter bottle of soda and two apple fritters.
It was the state of Idaho's first execution in over thirty-six years, since October 18, 1957, when
Raymond Allen Snowden was hanged for murder.
It was the first execution to occur in Idaho since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, as well as the state's first execution via lethal injection.
For nearly eighteen years, Wells remained the only person to be executed in Idaho since the reinstatement of the death penalty. The next execution in Idaho did not occur until 2011, when
Paul Ezra Rhoades
Paul Ezra Rhoades (January 18, 1957 – November 18, 2011) was an American spree killer and suspected serial killer convicted of three murders committed in Idaho during a three-week crime spree in 1987. He is the prime suspect in at least four ad ...
, a convicted
spree killer
A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations ...
, was executed, also by lethal injection. Wells remains the first of only three people to be executed in Idaho since the reinstatement of the death penalty. He is the only person to have been executed in Idaho
voluntarily.
See also
*
Capital punishment in Idaho
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Idaho.
Legal process
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the tr ...
*
Capital punishment in the United States
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 s ...
*
List of people executed in Idaho
The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Idaho since capital punishment was resumed in 1976.
Three men have been executed for murder since the ''Gregg v. Georgia'' decision; all three were executed by lethal injection at th ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Keith
1962 births
1994 deaths
20th-century executions by Idaho
20th-century executions of American people
American people executed for murder
Executed people from Utah
People executed by Idaho by lethal injection
People convicted of murder by Idaho
People from Moab, Utah
Volunteer execution