Federal Judges to Meet Again Today on Thompson Appeal

A panel of federal judges will meet again today to discuss whether Death Row inmate Thomas M. Thompson deserves a new trial on the eve of his execution for a 1981 Laguna Beach rape and murder.

Thompson is scheduled to enter California’s death chamber at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, but his attorneys argued Friday in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the 43-year-old was unjustly convicted of the murder of 20-year-old Ginger Fleischli.

The panel of 11 jurists met Friday evening and Saturday morning to weigh the merits of Thompson’s claim that his attorney in the original trial failed to provide an adequate defense and that the prosecutor in the case withheld vital information from the jury.

A clerk in the court said the panel hopes to reach a decision by Monday.

On Friday, Thompson’s attorneys argued that the original defense attorney offered no evidence to contradict testimony that his client had raped Fleischli, a central issue because the rape charge in conjunction with the murder allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Thompson’s lawyers also said the original prosecutor misled jurors about the backgrounds of two jailhouse informants and failed to share information that might have damaged the prosecution’s key theory that rape was the motive for the crime.

Government attorneys have countered that Thompson has had multiple chances to prove his innocence in court and that the original jury convicted him primarily on his own testimony. Gov. Pete Wilson denied clemency to Thompson on Thursday, and the state Supreme Court has declined to hear his case.