Texas executed a 55-year-old man, marking the first execution in the US in 2026
Texas carried out the first execution in the United States in 2026 on Wednesday evening, putting 55-year-old Charles Victor Thompson to death for the 1998 killings of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. Thompson was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville penitentiary and was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CST.
In his final statement, Thompson addressed the families of his victims, asking for forgiveness and expressing hope that they could “begin to heal” after the tragedy. “There are no winners in this situation; it creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later,” he said. “I’m sorry for what I did, I’m sorry for what happened, and I want to tell all of y’all, I love you. Keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first.”
Thompson had been convicted in April 1999 of fatally shooting Dennis Hayslip, 39, and Darren Cain, 30, on April 30, 1998. Court records show that Thompson, then 27, returned to Hayslip’s Houston apartment after a confrontation earlier that morning and shot both victims. Cain died at the scene, and Hayslip died a week later in the hospital.
Thompson’s defense had argued that his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses was violated because attorneys were not allowed to cross-examine the medical examiner who determined Hayslip’s death was caused by a gunshot wound. They contended that she actually died from improper medical care. Texas prosecutors maintained that Hayslip’s death resulted from Thompson’s actions, not hospital treatment, and previous courts had rejected the claim.
After his initial conviction and death sentence in 1999, a retrial of the punishment phase was ordered due to issues with the use of an undercover officer during his investigation. Thompson was resentenced to death in 2005. Shortly afterward, he escaped county jail but was recaptured in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Thompson’s execution marks the start of 2026 death penalties in the U.S., following a year in which executions surged. In 2025, 47 inmates were executed across 11 states, up from 25 in 2024, and Texas alone executed five people. The state has scheduled four additional executions through May 15.
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