July 14 Is Thompson’s New Execution Date

Convicted murderer Thomas Thompson, whose trip to San Quentin’s death chamber was halted hours before he was to be executed a year ago, was given a new execution date Friday.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald in Santa Ana signed an execution warrant for Thompson to die July 14.

Thompson, who was convicted of raping and murdering a young woman in Laguna Beach in 1981, is now second in line on California’s death row.

Prosecutors are trying to clear the way to put to death triple murderer Horace Kelly on July 7. Kelly was scheduled to be given a lethal injection Tuesday, but his execution was stayed by a federal judge last week.

In Friday’s hearing, Fitzgerald overruled objections by Thompson’s attorney that the execution warrant should not be signed while his appeal in federal court is pending.

Defense attorney Gregory Long of Los Angeles asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last month to consider new evidence that he says demonstrates Thompson’s innocence of the rape conviction. The rape was a “special circumstance” that, combined with murder, made Thompson eligible for the death penalty.

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Long said Friday he will file a motion with the 9th Circuit in San Francisco on Monday, asking for a stay of execution until the appeal is decided.

Last August, the same court halted Thompson’s death by injection just 32 hours before the appointed time. The panel threw out the rape conviction and expressed concerns about the fairness of his 1983 trial. The next day, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state attorney general’s request to reauthorize the execution and agreed to review Thompson’s case.

But in April, the highest court in the land ruled that the execution could proceed and strongly rebuked the 9th Circuit for intervening so late in the process.

Thompson, now 43, was convicted of raping and murdering Ginger Fleischli, then 20. In a separate trial, his former roommate, David Leitch, was convicted of second-degree murder.

The new evidence that defense attorney Long wants the appellate court to hear involves statements Leitch made during a parole hearing that on the night of the murder, he walked in and saw Thompson and Fleischli having consensual sex.

Thompson has maintained he is innocent of both rape and murder. He contends that he fell asleep after having consensual sex with Fleischli in his apartment.

The defense attorney Friday said no court has addressed the new evidence. The appeal is not expected to be resolved before July 14, so he will ask for a stay of execution.

“What is the hurry here?” he asked. “Tom Thompson is going nowhere. Why is there a rush to do this?” He said his client is in good spirits, despite the many turns in his case, and continues to have faith that “the justice system is going to work.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael A. Jacobs said the so-called new evidence already has been reviewed during the many appeals in Thompson’s case. He decried the repeated delays in executing Thompson.

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Jack Fleischli, the victim’s brother, said he was glad a new execution date has been set.

“The Supreme Court has made it very clear that it wants the state to be able to go forward with its executions,” he said. The latest appeal is “aimed strictly at delay.”

“At this point, the continual delay has resulted in Tom Thompson living a lifetime, at least in respect to Ginger, after raping and murdering my sister,” Fleischli said. “It’s gone on too long and it has got to stop.”