TX - Death row inmate Charles Thompson walks out of Harris County jail

vanillasky

New Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
1,395
Reaction score
16
Scary!! Talk about a man with nothing to lose...... I expect a shootout resulting in his death.

FULL STORY: http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou051103_jt_escapedinmate.25641e21.html

A massive manhunt was launched for a death row inmate who escaped from a downtown jail on Baker Street Thursday afternoon. The search was focused on an area near I-10 and Jensen.

At approximately 3:30 p.m. Thursday, inmate Charles Victor Thompson escaped from the Harris County jail facility at 1200 Baker Street.

Thompson was convicted of capital murder in the April 1998 shooting deaths of Dennise Hayslip of Tomball and Darren Cain of Spring and had been sentenced to the death penalty. Thompson is considered extremely dangerous and should not be approached if spotted.


M_IMAGE.10732e55909.93.88.fa.7c.25661d3c.jpg
 
Killer bluffs his way out of Harris County Jail
Death row prisoner uses civilian clothes, phony ID to trick deputy into letting him go

Authorities continued to scour downtown Houston and the surrounding areas late Thursday for a death row convict who used a fake badge and a change of clothes to walk out of the Harris County Jail's Baker Street facility.


Charles Victor Thompson, 35, convicted in the shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend in 1998, escaped about 3:30 p.m. while being held inside the high-security J Pod unit at the County Jail at 1200 Baker, officials said.

Thompson, described as 5' 11" and weighing approximately 230 pounds, was last seen wearing a dark blue shirt, khaki pants and white tennis shoes.

Sheriff's officials said Thompson may be in a gray-colored 2003 Nissan Frontier truck with Texas license plate 8WLX62.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3438092
 
:eek:

Why is a Death Row prisoner even out of his cell? and who helped him with the Street clothes & phony ID? :waitasec:
 
Good questions Cass...

They just said on the news that they think he was brought into a room used by attorneys to talk to their clients. In this room they believe he changed clothes and found the ID. Obviously this was preplanned and he had some help.

I certainly hope they find this guy - and soon. He has family and his victim's family both live in Tomball - VERY close to me. Kinda scary!
 
Thats just crazy. Sounds like security is a little lax at this Prison and someones going to be in big trouble.

The priority of course is finding this guy, but, if they had time to plan the escape/clothes/ID/Car/$$$ then they probably have a destination in mind as well - maybe he is trying for mexico or another State?
 
From what I can put together - he was just sentenced recently and had not yet been transferred to death row. They just said they have 45 days to transfer prisoners to the Polunsky Unit (death row) so apparently he had not made it there yet but was rather being held here in Houston. Don't know why there was a delay in getting him up there.

ETA - he had just been sentenced last Friday.
 
In jail letters, Thompson called himself 'the Chuckster killer'

In pictures on Web sites arguing against the death penalty, Charles Victor Thompson smiles at the camera, the picture of boyishness.

Throughout his trials and appeals, however, authorities and witnesses warned jurors to look beyond Thompson's appearance, calling him a "pretty boy" with a bad temper and characterizing him as a narcissistic sociopath who turns violent under stress. Authorities also have linked him with the white supremacist group Aryan Brotherhood while in prison.

Only last week, jurors in Thompson's resentencing hearing called the capital murder for which he was convicted "horrible" and "heartbreaking." One juror said the case was so upsetting that it changed her attitude toward the death penalty: Now, she supports it.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3438091
 
I wonder if he had a penpal from his website. It was mentioned in the article mysteriew linked.

I see his original trial was in 1999 and this was a retrial, I believe. That's why he was in the county jail instead of prison.
 
SewingDeb said:
I wonder if he had a penpal from his website. It was mentioned in the article mysteriew linked.

I see his original trial was in 1999 and this was a retrial, I believe. That's why he was in the county jail instead of prison.

That is a good question. He evidently not only had a website, he was actively searching for a penpal.
What I would like to know is how they got him into the attorneys room and why no one seems to know he was in there. Was he running around loose in the jail and just popped into the attorneys room, or was he scheduled to be in there with someone? I would think someone at the jail should know where he was and who he was supposed to be with, any time he was out of his cell.
 
mysteriew said:
That is a good question. He evidently not only had a website, he was actively searching for a penpal.
What I would like to know is how they got him into the attorneys room and why no one seems to know he was in there. Was he running around loose in the jail and just popped into the attorneys room, or was he scheduled to be in there with someone? I would think someone at the jail should know where he was and who he was supposed to be with, any time he was out of his cell.

I think he had help....maybe both inside and outside of the jail. The article didn't sound like he was supposed to be in the room for attorney's meetings, so I'm thinking a guard helped him get that far.
 
Good Grief! :banghead:

Maybe this is a good example of why, when somene is sentenced to DP, we should already have a gallows erected out back from the jail and hang 'em high straight from the courtroom :(

Isn't that the way they used to do it in the WILD WEST? :rolleyes:

I hope he's the only one who possibly get's killed when he's confronted or captured. He's killed enough people already. :(

I'd definitely be scared if I lived within 100 miles of there. Yikes! He has nothing to lose.

JMHO
fran
 
fran said:
Good Grief! :banghead:

Maybe this is a good example of why, when somene is sentenced to DP, we should already have a gallows erected out back from the jail and hang 'em high straight from the courtroom :(

Isn't that the way they used to do it in the WILD WEST? :rolleyes:

I hope he's the only one who possibly get's killed when he's confronted or captured. He's killed enough people already. :(

I'd definitely be scared if I lived within 100 miles of there. Yikes! He has nothing to lose.

JMHO
fran

It is too bad so many appeals are allowed. You're right that this guy has nothing to lose. I hope the ones who helped him receive stiff penalties as well.
 
I work in downtown houston which is where he escaped. While in prison the newspapers say that he was plotting to kill certain witnesses and think he will go after those people now that he is out. That is so scary. I read through the transcripts and one woman, the neighbor I think, told the entire story of what happened. It I was her I would get the heck out of the state until he is captured.
 
Where did he get the clothes??

I understand his victims Mother being fearful. If I were her mother, I think I would stay put and just wait for him to show up. Don't think I'd get any time for shooting him dead!
 
From Houston Channel 2 : "Apparently these were the clothes he used during his last court appearance, and what we've found is that he either put his jumpsuit over his clothing or put the clothes in with his legal papers when he came back to the jail," Martin said.

KPRC Local 2 has also learned that the fake badge Thompson showed jail workers had his picture on it.

"At no time did (officials) actually have it in their hands where they could really closely scrutinize this badge," Martin said. "It was a laminated card, like a driver's license or something of that nature."


Here is the link to the whole article:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/5248494/detail.html
 
So he prepared it before he went to jail, or someone passed it to him. I wonder why his clothes were not removed from him when he came back from court? :waitasec:
He probably told whoever asked, that someone else had already gotten them. :doh:
 
mocity said:
I work in downtown houston which is where he escaped. While in prison the newspapers say that he was plotting to kill certain witnesses and think he will go after those people now that he is out. That is so scary. I read through the transcripts and one woman, the neighbor I think, told the entire story of what happened. It I was her I would get the heck out of the state until he is captured.

Maybe they can get police protection... I know I'd be asking for it.
 
mocity said:
I work in downtown houston which is where he escaped. While in prison the newspapers say that he was plotting to kill certain witnesses and think he will go after those people now that he is out. That is so scary. I read through the transcripts and one woman, the neighbor I think, told the entire story of what happened. It I was her I would get the heck out of the state until he is captured.

Wow! I wouldn't care if I'd been a witness in his case or not, he's one dangerous dude!

I'm assuming LE has orders of 'Shoot to kill!'

They wouldn't have to tell me that! :eek:

JMHO
fran
 


On a whole host of levels - this escape was made possible through a series of sloppy human errors. The result of those errors may end up costing one or more innocent people their lives.

Pathetic performance by LE officials at the County Jail. This Thompson dude was already a convicted DR inmate - now with a 2nd reimposed DP verdict. Twice - he had plotted a contract killing on trial participants.

How in the hell did he convince a guard to allow him to go to the attorney conference room unescorted - much less without a specific directive from someone in authority at the control center?

How was this DR inmate able to secure and maintain a badge & a photo ID while inside the County lock-up?

Why was this DR convict still in possession of his "court clothes"?

Sloppy! Sloppy!! Sloppy!!! :banghead:

If LE heads don't roll - something is very wrong in the lax Houston penal system.

I just hope this violent DR offender doesn't take any more lives before he is apprehended.

13th Juror
 
Deputies had several chances to avert escape
By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Four or five deputies – and possibly more – had opportunities to stop condemned murderer Charles Victor Thompson before he walked out of the Harris County Jail, a sheriff's spokesman said today.

As the hunt for the 35-year-old Tomball man widened, Lt. John Martin said Thompson encountered deputies in at least three places in the downtown jail as he made his way to freedom.

Thompson already had spent*nearly seven*years on Texas' death row for the 1998 shootings of his ex-girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip, and her new boyfriend, Darren Cain. He was in Houston for a new sentencing trial, ordered by the state Court of Criminal Appeals.

The entire story can be found here: www.chron.com
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
189
Guests online
2,414
Total visitors
2,603

Forum statistics

Threads
589,956
Messages
17,928,316
Members
228,017
Latest member
SashaRhea82
Back
Top