O.C. Woman’s Killer Loses Bid for Appeal

Despite a defense claim that he may be innocent, Thomas M. Thompson could face execution this summer for the 1981 rape-murder of an Orange County woman.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down his appeal Monday without comment or dissent, also rejecting a plea from seven former California prosecutors who said Thompson’s guilt was in question. With no other appeals pending, his only hope may be clemency from Gov. Pete Wilson.

An Orange County judge will be asked at a hearing, probably June 20, to set an execution date within 30 to 60 days, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Jacobs.

Defense lawyer Quin Denvir said the defense was reviewing its options but hoped Wilson would consider a request for clemency in view of the differences between Thompson and the four Californians executed in the last five years.

“In every other case the person had a prior record, they were all multiple victims and there had been confessions so there was no doubt about guilt,” said Denvir, the federal public defender in Sacramento. “None of those things were true in this case.

“There’s real doubt whether this guy did anything at all, and if he did, did he do the rape that’s necessary to make it a capital murder?”

Deputy Atty. Gen. Dane Gillette said he saw no reason for doubt. “We are convinced that the record more than supports the conviction,” he said.

Thompson, now 42, was convicted of raping and fatally stabbing 20-year-old Ginger Fleischli of Laguna Beach in September 1981. Her partially clothed body was found in a grove of trees two days after she was last seen with Thompson.

Thompson testified he had consensual sex with Fleischli the night of her death, then passed out and slept until morning. But two jail inmates quoted him as saying he raped Fleischli, then killed her to keep her quiet.

Thompson’s lawyers said he had no motive to kill her and was a far less likely suspect than David Leitch, the victim’s former boyfriend. Leitch, whose shoe prints were found near the body, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life.