Charles Thompson
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A man convicted of the double murder of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend in 1998 is scheduled to be executed Wednesday night.
Charles Thompson was convicted in 1999 for the murders of his ex-girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her new boyfriend Darren Keith Cain, 30. Thompson will be the first person executed in Texas this year.
Charles Thompson (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)
Thompson's attorneys filed for a stay of execution earlier this month claiming ineffective counsel during his trial and claiming that the hospital was at fault for Hayslip's death. The filing includes claims that a doctor who testified at Thompson's trial about Hayslip's cause of death would now say that medical complications were the cause of death.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Thompson's motion for a stay on Tuesday.
Shooting deaths of Hayslip and Cain
The backstory:
Thompson had gotten into an altercation with Hayslip and Cain at Hayslip's apartment in Houston on April 30, 1998, and was escorted off the property by police, according to court documents. Thompson returned to the apartment the next morning and shot Cain multiple times in the upper body and shot Hayslip in the mouth. Cain was pronounced dead at the scene. Hayslip went to the apartment next door for help and was taken by helicopter to a Houston hospital where she died a week later.
Thompson was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in April 1999. In 2001, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated his death sentence after ruling that the Harris County District Attorney's Office unconstitutionally used an undercover investigator to obtain evidence for the trial.
Thompson was given a new sentencing hearing and was once again sentenced to death in 2005. Days later, Thompson escaped from a county jail using a smuggled set of clothes and a fake identification badge to get past guards. He was recaptured outside a liquor store in Shreveport, Louisiana after a three-day manhunt.
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Charles Thompson captured after 2005 escape
Convicted murderer Charles Thompson attends a hearing after his capture following a 2005 escape from jail. Thompson's escape sparked a three-day manhunt before he was captured in Louisiana. Thompson is scheduled to be Texas' first execution of 2026.
Other executions scheduled in Texas
If Thompson is executed Wednesday night, he will be the first of four scheduled executions in Texas this year.
Cedric Allen Ricks is the next person scheduled for execution on March 11, 2026. Ricks was convicted of capital murder in 2014 after stabbing 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her 8-year-old son, Anthony.
The Source: Information in this article comes from court filings in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and previous FOX News coverage.