Supreme Court Upholds Death for Stabber
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand Thomas Martin Thompson’s death sentence for a 1981 murder in Laguna Beach.
Thompson was convicted of the Sept. 11, 1981, stabbing death of Ginger Fleischli, 20. Prosecutors said Thompson killed the woman at his Laguna Beach apartment and then dumped her body in a secluded area near Irvine.
The justices refused Monday to hear arguments that jurors who sentenced Thompson to death wrongly were limited in considering “mitigating factors.”
Thompson’s appeal also contended that his sentence was tainted by a prosecutor’s comment during the sentencing phase that Thompson had no remorse.
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