Additional Coverage:
- Texas man convicted of 2 fatal shootings becomes the first person executed in the U.S. this year (nbcnews.com)
HUNTSVILLE, TX – Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was executed Wednesday, becoming the first individual in the United States to face capital punishment this year. Thompson was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CT following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Thompson was condemned for the April 1998 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, 30, at Hayslip’s suburban Houston apartment. His execution marks the culmination of a legal process spanning over two decades, which included a notable escape from custody.
In his final statements, Thompson expressed remorse and sought forgiveness from the victims’ families. “There are no winners in this situation,” he stated, adding, “I’m sorry for what I did.
I’m sorry for what happened, and I want to tell all of y’all, I love you and that keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first.” He also remarked that his execution “creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later.”
One of the witnesses, Dennis Cain, father of Darren Cain, offered a stark reaction to Thompson’s passing, stating, “He’s in hell.”
Court records detail a history of a year-long romantic relationship between Thompson and Hayslip, which ended due to Thompson’s escalating possessiveness and abuse. On the day of the killings, Thompson confronted Cain at Hayslip’s apartment around 3 a.m. after police had previously instructed him to leave the complex.
He returned three hours later and fatally shot both Hayslip and Cain. Cain died at the scene, while Hayslip succumbed to her injuries a week later in the hospital.
Prosecutors from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office emphasized the long wait for justice, stating, “The Hayslip and Cain families have waited over twenty-five years for justice to occur.”
Thompson’s final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which argued that he was not allowed to challenge evidence regarding Hayslip’s cause of death, was rejected without explanation approximately an hour before the scheduled execution.
His attorneys contended that Hayslip’s death resulted from flawed medical care post-shooting, leading to severe brain damage from oxygen deprivation. Prosecutors countered that a jury had already dismissed this claim, holding Thompson responsible for her death as it “would not have occurred but for his conduct.”
A 2002 lawsuit filed by Hayslip’s family alleging medical negligence against one of her doctors also resulted in a verdict favoring the physician.
Thompson’s original death sentence was overturned, leading to a new punishment trial in November 2005, where a jury again sentenced him to lethal injection.
Following his resentencing, Thompson gained notoriety for escaping the Harris County Jail. He walked out the front door, slipping past deputies after using an improvised ID badge.
In a 2005 interview, Thompson described his brief freedom, saying, “I got to smell the trees, feel the wind in my hair, grass under my feet, see the stars at night.” He was apprehended in Shreveport, Louisiana, while attempting to arrange wire transfers to fund his escape to Canada.
Texas leads the nation in the number of executions, though Florida recorded the most in 2023 with 19. The next execution in the U.S. is slated for February 10, when Ronald Palmer Health is scheduled for lethal injection in Florida.