US EditionA Texas man is facing execution for fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend
Thompson's execution followed denial of commutation and ongoing legal disputes over whether his ex-girlfriend’s death was caused by gunshot or medical care, Texas officials said.
- On Wednesday, Charles Victor Thompson was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the 1998 killings of Glenda Dennise Hayslip and Darren Keith Cain.
- Prosecutors say Thompson and Hayslip had been romantically involved for a year but split after Thompson became increasingly possessive, jealous and abusive, and court records show he argued with Cain around 3 a.m. before police told him to leave.
- Defense lawyers contend Hayslip died from medical care complications, but juries rejected malpractice claims in 2002 and again sentenced Thompson to death in the November 2005 punishment trial.
- The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday denied Thompson's request to commute his death sentence, while Thompson's attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution and prosecutors noted the Hayslip and Cain families have waited over twenty-five years for justice.
- Shortly after being resentenced, Thompson escaped from Harris County Jail in Houston by walking out virtually unchallenged and was arrested Sunday in Shreveport, Louisiana, 200 miles away, while trying to wire money to Canada.
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First US execution of 2026: Charles Thompson dies by lethal injection in Texas
Before the lethal dose of pentobarbital was given, Thompson asked for forgiveness, while also stating: “There are no winners in this situation, it creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later.”
Charles Victor Thompson was sentenced to death for fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and his new partner almost 27 years ago
Inmate who spent decades on death row first to be executed in U.S. this year
Charles Victor Thompson, a Texas inmate convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend in 1998, was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, becoming the first person executed in the U.S. this year.
In 2025, with 47 people in the United States, as many convicted people have not been executed since 2009, the first execution of a death sentence is now taking place in Texas this year.
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