Death-Row Escapee Waives Extradition

By PAM EASTON
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 8, 2005; 1:12 AM

HOUSTON -- A death row inmate who brazenly walked out of a county jail and avoided capture for three days will have constant guards and reduced privileges now that he has returned to Texas, authorities said Monday.

Charles Victor Thompson was captured Sunday night outside a liquor store in Shreveport, La. Authorities still don't know how he slipped out of a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs, broke out of a visiting room and flashed a fake ID before walking out of the Harris County Jail on Thursday.


This photo, provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, shows death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson, who escaped Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, from the Harris County Jail in Houston. Authorities believe Thompson managed to get some civilian clothing, convinced a jailer that he was with the Texas attorney general's office and slipped out. (AP Photo/Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice)
This photo, provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, shows death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson, who escaped Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, from the Harris County Jail in Houston. Authorities believe Thompson managed to get some civilian clothing, convinced a jailer that he was with the Texas attorney general's office and slipped out. (AP Photo/Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice) (AP)

Thompson waived his extradition hearing in Caddo Parish, La., where he participated via video from the jail.

"I don't want to waste the taxpayers' money in Louisiana," Thompson told state District Judge Ramona Emanuel.

Thompson was escorted back to Harris County Jail on Monday night, officials said.

"Anytime he's out of his cell block, we will have a deputy with him at all times," Harris County sheriff's Lt. John Martin said. "At no time will he be unattended outside his cell block."

Thompson faces escape charges, but it's unlikely the state would bother trying him because he's already condemned. Once back on death row in Livingston, about 75 miles northeast of Houston, Thompson faces reduced privileges.

"Most inmates with an escape under their belt are housed under our highest level of security," said Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Those security measures include a reduction of recreation time from one hour a day to one hour a week. Thompson also will be banned from access to such personal items as a radio or typewriter.

Thompson, 35, was convicted in 1999 for the shooting deaths a year earlier of his ex-girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip, 39, of Tomball, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, 30, of nearby Spring.

He had been brought to the county jail in Houston from death row to be resentenced on the orders of an appeals court. He was resentenced to death on Oct. 28 and was awaiting transfer back to death row when he escaped.

After meeting with an attorney in a jail visiting room, Thompson managed to slip out of his handcuffs and into civilian clothes that authorities believe he wore during his sentencing and somehow smuggled back to his cell.

Thompson left the locked prisoner's booth in the visiting room and waved a fake ID badge as he passed at least four jail employees. Thompson, described by his victims' families and his lawyer as a charmer, was let into the jail's visitor's lobby. From there, he walked out the door and into the street.

Martin said authorities still are trying to determine how Thompson got to Shreveport, about 200 miles northeast of Houston. Authorities arrested Thompson while he talked on a pay phone outside a liquor store.

The internal investigation into how Thompson escaped continues. While investigators have not ruled out the possibility Thompson got help from a jail employee, there is no direct evidence to support that, Martin said.

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Associated Press Photographer LM Otero contributed to this report.


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