First Execution of 2026

Charles Victor Thompson was sentenced to die for the April 1998 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, 30, at her apartment. Cain died immediately, Hayslip lingered some. Texas executed Thompson today by lethal injection.

Thompson's final SCOTUS appeal sounds dubious:

Thompson's attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing Thompson wasn't allowed to refute or confront the prosecution's evidence that concluded Hayslip died from a gunshot wound to the face. Thompson's attorneys have argued Hayslip actually died from flawed medical care she received after the shooting that resulted in severe brain damage sustained from oxygen deprivation following a failed intubation.

The state not only argued that this was not a new claim. It was besides the point. Thompson was still responsible for her death. Why, after all, did she need medical care? 

SCOTUS earlier today, without comment (as usual), rejected the argument. It very well might be sound as a matter of appellate review. I still would like at least a brief explanation before the final court paves the way to the deprivation of life.

I continue to find long lag times constitutionally troubling (Breyer's dissent). Over twenty-five years fits the bill. Others will be glad that "justice finally prevailed." 

The top link notes that he escaped from prison for a few days after an earlier appeal. It sounds like a result of a ridiculous laxness of security for a capital offender:

Shortly after being resentenced, Thompson escaped from the Harris County Jail in Houston by walking out the front door virtually unchallenged by deputies. Thompson later told The Associated Press that after meeting with his attorney in a small interview cell, he slipped out of his handcuffs and orange jail jumpsuit and left the room, which was unlocked. Thompson waived an ID badge fashioned out of his prison ID card to get past several deputies.

Thompson committed a horrible act, murdering two people in cold blood. It was a personal crime, a result of his anger and revenge, which makes it somewhat less blatant as a "worst of the worst" situation. He was in prison for approaching thirty years. That is not nothing justice-wise.

Few will cry over his execution, of course, and he is now mostly a statistic. The first execution of 2026.

I might not provide deep dives for each execution this year. Perhaps, only those that receive SCOTUS review like this one will be handled. Time will tell.