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David William Leitch (male, CDC# D11422,
sentenced to 15 years to life)
Summary:
On Sept. 14, 1981, farm workers in a rural area
of Irvine, in Orange County, discovered in a shallow grave the
body of Ginger Lorraine Fleischli wrapped in a sleeping bag and a
pink blanket, and secured with a rope. Ginger had been raped and
stabbed with a knife five times in and around one ear. Her head
was wrapped in duct tape, two towels, a sheet and her jacket. She
had cuts on her wrists and ankles. Investigators linked offender
Thomas Martin Thompson and crime partner David William Leitch to
the murder.
On the evening of Sept. 11, 1981, Ginger had gone to a pizza
parlor with Tracy Leitch, the offender, known to the party by the
alias "Thomas Michael Young," and his crime partner, David Leitch,
who was Tracy’s ex-husband. Ginger had lived with the crime
partner for a time after he had separated from Tracy, but at the
time of her murder she and Tracy had been roommates for two weeks.
The offender was living with his crime partner. The two males were
planning a money-making scheme together.
When the group left the pizza parlor, Tracy and the crime partner
gave the offender and Ginger a ride to a bar. At about 9:30 p.m.,
a man named Afshin Kashani joined Ginger and the offender at the
bar and at about 1 a.m. the trio walked to the one-room apartment
that the offender and his crime partner shared. The offender and
Afshin smoked hash and Ginger left to get a soda at a nearby
liquor store. While she was gone, the offender told Kashani that
he wanted to have sex with Ginger that night. Kashani left the
apartment before Ginger returned. When Ginger came back, the
offender raped her. Then he killed her after she told him she
would report the matter to the police.
Three days after her murder, Ginger’s wrapped body was found. A
single-edged knife, later determined to belong to the crime
partner, had been thrust at least two inches into her ear. It had
severed the carotid artery, causing massive bleeding and
ultimately her death. Ligature marks on her wrists and ankles
indicated that she had been bound or handcuffed during the night
of the murder. Ginger’s shirt and bra were cut in the front and
pulled down to her elbows, completely exposing her breasts. She
was not wearing any shoes, socks, or underwear. Her jeans were
fully zipped but unbuttoned. A vaginal swab revealed semen
consistent with Thompson’s blood type.
Ginger’s blood was found in the offender and the crime partner’s
apartment on the carpeting, padding and concrete underneath the
carpeting. Fibers matching the blanket in which Ginger was wrapped
were found in the trunk of the crime partner’s car. Additionally,
a footprint matching that of the crime partner was found next to
where Ginger’s body was dumped.
The investigation suggested that the crime partner also wanted
Ginger killed because he felt that she was interfering with his
efforts to reconcile with his ex-wife. Tracy later said that on
the night of the murder, Ginger asked her, "Do you think David [Leitch]
would have Tom [Thompson] kill me?" Tracy also reported that
people had told her the offender often carried a gun. She told
investigators that "No one really knew Tom but everyone thought he
was strange and weird."
After Ginger’s murder, the offender and his crime partner fled to
Mexico. The crime partner was arrested when he returned to the
United States and Mexican authorities located the offender.
Thomas Martin Thompson was convicted of
forcible rape and first degree murder with the special
circumstance of murder during the commission of rape. He was
sentenced to death by Orange County on Aug. 17, 1984.
Crime partner David Leitch was found guilty of
second degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life on July
19, 1985.
(Information for this summary was compiled from
the probation officer’s report and/or other court documents from
the offender’s file.)
Execution:
At 11:48 p.m. July 13, 1998 – sixteen years and
ten months after he raped and murdered Ginger Fleischi, Thomas
Thompson was taken into San Quentin’s execution chamber. The
catheter to deliver the lethal injection was inserted into his arm,
and the chamber door was shut at 11:54 p.m. Media witness entered
at 11:58 p.m.; the curtains were opened one minute later. The
execution by lethal injection began at 12:01 a.m. July 14.
Thompson was pronounced dead at 12:06 a.m.
Thompson’s last meal included: Alaskan king
crab with melted butter, spinach salad, pork fried rice, Mandarin-style
spare ribs, hot fudge sundae and a six-pack of Coca Cola.
Following the execution Warden Art Calderon
read Thompson’s last statement:
"For 17 years the AG has been pursuing the
wrong man. In time he will come to know this. I don’t want anyone
to avenge my death. Instead I want you to stop killing people. God
bless."
Name/DOC #
Thomas Martin Thompson C-91600
Address
San Quentin, CA/deceased
Date of Birth
March 20, 1955
Race
White
Date of Crime
September 11, 1981
Age Time of Crime
26
Date Sentenced
August 17, 1984
Victims
Ginger Fleischli
Race of Victims
White
Relationship to Defendant
Acquaintance
Summary of Facts Alleged by
State
Thompson raped victim and then
killed her to cover up rape
County of Trial
Orange, CA
Trial Judge
Robert Fitzgerald
Trial Attorney
Ronald Brower
Prosecutors
Michael Jacobs
Trial By
Jury
Race of Jurors
Unknown/not applicable
Convicted of
First degree murder with rape
special circumstance, rape
Confession
No—he always maintained innocence
Accomplice Testimony
None
Eyewitness Testimony
The only eyewitness testimony,
that of David Leitch, co-defendant, stating that victim had
consensual sex with Thompson, was withheld by the State and
later barred from review by the Anti-terrorism and Effective
Death Penalty Act
Forensic Testimony
Very questionable evidence of
rape presented by coroner and later successfully rebutted at
Federal habeas evidentiary hearing
Jailhouse Snitch
Yes: 4 used at preliminary
hearing. These were later discarded and 2 new informants were
used with new variation on the so-called confession
Defendant Testimony
Yes: he admitted having
consensual sex with victim, denied rape, and denied killing her
Principal Exculpatory Evidence
Co-defendant's testimony that he
saw victim and Thompson having consensual sex
Sentencing Authority
CA Death Penalty Statute
Statutory Aggravating Factor
No prior record
Non-Statutory Aggravating
Factor
Mitigating Factors
No prior record
Evidence of Mental Illness
Retardation and or Neurological Damage
No
Criminal History
None
Appellate History
Conviction affirmed in State
court; Reversed and vacated in US District Ct.; Reinstated by 9th
Circuit Ct. of Appeals-3 judge panel; Reinstated by USSC, not on
merits but procedurally
Ineffective Assistance?
Yes: found by US District Ct. and
9th Circuit En Banc
Police Misconduct?
No
Prosecutorial Misconduct?
Yes: found by 9th
Circuit En Banc
Appellate Counsel
Quin Denvir, Gregory Long, Andrew
Love, William Arzbaecher
Thomas M. Thompson (California)
Allegation
On July 14, 1998, the State of California, with the
acquiescence of the federal government, executed Thomas Thompson by
lethal injection. The state and federal governments not only failed to
ensure Thompson's right to a fair and impartial trial, they
intentionally disregarded a federal court ruling that Thompson's trial
was unconstitutional. The unfair and unconstitutional trial resulted in
Thompson's execution.
Crime
On September 11, 1981 Ginger Fleischli was stabbed
five times in the head and killed in Orange County, California.
Fleischli had spent the evening with her former lover, David Leitch,
Leitch's new roommate, Thomas Thompson, and Leitch's ex-wife. Fleischli
went home with Thompson to an apartment Thompson shared with David
Leitch, and had consensual sex with him.
The next day, her body was
found in a shallow grave. Both Leitch and Thompson were arrested and
charged with Fleischli's murder, and Thompson was charged with rape.
Thompson and Leitch were tried separately and convicted; Thompson was
convicted of both murder and rape.
Salient Issues
Both the Federal District Court and the State
Appeals Court threw out the rape conviction, which was the special
circumstances that made Thompson eligible for the death penalty.
Both the Federal District Court and the State
Appeals Court held that it was probable that Thompson would not have
been convicted of rape or sentenced to death if his attorney had
been competent.
Seven former prosecutors, including an author of
California's death penalty law, filed a brief on Thompson's behalf
in the U.S. Supreme Court, citing the prosecution's manipulation of
witnesses and facts in Thompson's trial and expressing doubt about
Thompson's conviction.
Evidence that Leitch, the other man convicted of
the murder, witnessed Thompson and the victim engaging in consensual
sex the night of the murder was revealed to state investigators and
Leitch's trial counsel prior to Thompson's trial, and was reiterated
by Leitch under oath at his parole hearing in 1995. This evidence,
which was inconsistent with the prosecution's theory that Thompson
had raped and then murdered the victim to cover up the rape, was
suppressed by prosecutors and only discovered by a defense
investigator in 1997.
An eleven-judge panel of the Federal Appeals
Court found that the prosecutor manipulated evidence and witnesses
in Thompson's trial and later, at Leitch's trial, presented evidence
that discredited its own previous case against Thompson. It ruled
Thompson's death sentence erroneous and his trial unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the judgment of
the Appeals Court, ruling that the court, in a series of errors,
took too long to reach the decision to vacate Thompson's death
sentence.
The evidence that Thompson was innocent of the
special circumstances that made him eligible for the death penalty
was barred by the Ninth Circuit Court from consideration because of
the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
Trial
Thomas Thompson and David Leitch were tried and
convicted separately, by separate juries. The prosecutor and judge were
the same at each of the trials. Thompson was tried first, in 1983.
At
the preliminary hearing, the prosecution produced three jailhouse
informants who testified that Thompson had confessed that he was hired
by Leitch to help murder Fleischli, and after having consensual sex with
her, Thompson had helped Leitch kill her. The prosecution subsequently
rejected this theory and did not call these informants at trial.
At trial, the prosecution introduced a new theory -
that Thompson had raped Fleischli and murdered her to cover up the rape.
In this version of the murder, David Leitch solely helped Thompson
dispose of Fleischli's body. The earlier testimony of the four jailhouse
informants was discarded, and two new jailhouse informants testified
that Thompson had confessed to the rape and murder.
Leitch had been arrested more than once for assaultand had previously threatened to kill Fleischli, including ten days
before she was murdered.Several defense witnesses, including a
police officer, testified to Leitch's violent disposition, threats, and
motive for the murder, but were discredited by the prosecution. The
prosecution later used these same witnesses to convict David Leitch.
Thompson was found guilty of both rape and murder, and because of the
special circumstances of rape, was sentenced to death.
Appeals
In March 1995, a federal court heard Thompson's
appeal and reversed the rape conviction and the death sentence. The
court found that there was no substantial evidence of rape or that
Thompson had committed rape. The court also found that a competent
attorney could have easily rebutted the circumstantial evidence used to
convict Thompson and that Thompson's attorney was incompetent in failing
to discredit a notoriously unreliable jailhouse informant.
The court
declined to reverse Thompson's murder conviction because of stringent
legal hurdles for overturning convictions. However, it urged the state
not to re-try Thompson on the rape, stating that the numerous
inconsistencies in the case left the court with an "unsettled feeling."
In 1996, a three-judge panel of the
U.S. Court of Appeals re-instated the rape conviction and the death
sentence, finding that the incompetence of Thompson's attorney would not
have made a difference in the verdict. In May 1997, additional evidence
surfaced concerning Thompson's rape conviction.
Two years earlier at a
parole hearing, David Leitch testified that he had walked in on Thompson
and Fleischli having consensual sex the night of the murder. Although
Leitch said he gave this same information to police in 1981, he was
never called to testify in Thompson's trial. Leitch's attorney
corroborated that Leitch had always maintained Thompson and Fleischli
had engaged in consensual sex. The parole board failed to pass this
information on to Thompson's attorneys in 1994, although they were
required to do so by law.
Based on this new information, Thompson's attorneys
appealed his case again, asking for a hearing by the entire bench of
judges of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Although the
court initially denied the request, on August 3, 1997, an eleven-judge
panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals found that it had erred in denying
the original request and acted on its own motion to reverse Thompson's
rape conviction and vacate his death sentence.
The court disclosed a
series of internal clerical and procedural errors that had caused
Thompson's earlier appeal for a full bench hearing to be mistakenly
denied. The federal panel found that the prosecution acted egregiously
in Thompson's trial by manipulating witnesses and evidence, arguing
inconsistent motives, and, at Leitch's trial, ridiculing its own theory
of prosecution used to convict Thompson. Because Thompson's murder
conviction was linked to the rape conviction, the court referred the
case back to the District Court to re-examine the validity of the murder
conviction.
The State of California challenged the decision of
the U.S. Court of Appeals. In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme
Court overturned the lower court's decision, upholding Thompson's rape
conviction and death sentence.
The Court did this in spite of an
unprecedented appeal by seven former prosecutors and an author of the
California death penalty statute, which outlined substantial doubts
about the prosecutor's conduct and about Thompson's guilt. The Supreme
Court justified its decision based on the Anti-terrorism and Effective
Death Penalty Act of 1996.
Conclusion
Thomas Thompson was executed despite a U.S. Court of
Appeals ruling that Thompson failed to receive a fair trial and that the
original criminal trial was unconstitutional. Thompson's constitutional
rights and international human rights were again violated by the direct
actions of United State Supreme Court when it overturned the Court of
Appeals decision despite overwhelming evidence of Thompson's innocence
and compelling evidence that he failed to receive a fair and impartial
trial.
Quixote.org
Thompson was pronounced dead by injection at 12:06
a.m. for raping and killing 20-year-old Ginger Fleischli in 1981.
Thompson's case was unusual in that he was the 1st of
the 5 men executed in California to claim innocence.
Prosecutors said Thompson raped Fleischli and then
murdered her to stop her from reporting it.
"Let there be no mistake about this, Mr. Thompson
is a guilty man," Attorney General Dan Lungren said a few hours
before the execution.
But Thompson's attorneys said another man in the case
claimed to have seen Thompson and Fleischli having what appeared to be
consensual sex on the night of her death. The defense said that
exonerated Thompson from the rape charge that made the killing a capital
crime and also took away his motive for murder.
Saturday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
rejected that claim. His lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court on Monday
but were turned down.
At 6 p.m., Thompson, who had seen visitors off and on
during the day, was moved to the death watch cell.
"I was told he had become somewhat withdrawn
towards staff as early as Saturday," said prison spokeswoman Joy
Macfarlane.
Thompson ordered a last meal. His spiritual adviser,
the Rev. Margaret Harrell, was to stay with him until shortly before his
execution and then be taken to the execution room as a witness.
As the evening wore on, more than a hundred protesters
gathered at the prison gates, holding candles and signs protesting the
death penalty.
In the days leading up to the execution, Thompson's
supporters had urged officials to take a closer look at the case, noting
that he had had a clean record before the murder.
Thompson, 43, was convicted in 1983 of raping
Fleischli and then plunging a knife into her head several times, with
the fatal wound going 2 1/2 inches into her ear.
Fleischli's body was found beside a highway Sept. 14,
1981. She had been killed 2 days earlier in the apartment Thompson
shared with her ex-boyfriend, David Leitch.
Thompson had come across Leitch while working on a far-fetched
scheme to smuggle refugees out of Southeast Asia for gold. At his trial,
prosecutors said Thompson killed Fleischli out of fear that a rape
charge would derail his plans.
Thompson claimed he had consensual sex with Fleischli
and then passed out, done in by a night of drinking and smoking hash. He
said Fleischli was gone when he woke up.
Leitch, whose shoe print was found near the body, was
convicted of 2nd-degree murder and is serving a sentence of 15 years to
life.
Leitch has said that Fleischli was already dead when
he returned to the apartment that night. But at a 1995 parole hearing,
Leitch said he saw Thompson and Fleischli having what looked like
consensual sex.
It was that statement on which Thompson's last claim
hinged.
State attorneys pointed out that Leitch had changed
his story several times.
Thompson also ran into a 1996 law limiting prisoners
to 1 federal appeal unless there is a claim of new evidence clearly
indicating innocence.
Thompson 1st appealed on the grounds that he had bad
lawyers at his trial.
A federal judge agreed, reversing the rape conviction
and overturning the death sentence.
A 3-judge panel of the 9th Circuit later reinstated
the death penalty.
But just 2 days before Thompson's scheduled execution
Aug. 5, the 9th Circuit decided to rehear the case.
6 hours before the scheduled execution, after Thompson
had ordered his last meal and said his goodbyes, the 9th Circuit
postponed the execution. It eventually overturned the death sentence.
The Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence in
April, scolding the 9th Circuit for reopening the case at the last
minute.
(Sources: Contra Costa Times and Rick Halperin.)
Thomas Martin Thompson
On 9/11/81, Ginger Fleischli went out for
dinner, dancing and bar-hopping with David and Tracy Leitch, friends she
had known for years, and Thomas Thompson, a newcomer to the group.
The crime took place in the Laguna Beach apartment
Thompson shared with Leitch, who was Fleischli's former boyfriend. Three
days later, her body was found dumped in a grove of trees in Irvine. She
had been stabbed five times in the head, which was wrapped in duct tape,
towels, a sheet and her jacket. Leitch's shoe print was found near
Fleischli's body and he was convicted of second-degree murder.
A jury found that Thompson raped Fleischli and then
killed her to keep her quiet. Jail inmates testified Thompson said he
feared she would jeopardize a peculiar scheme he had dreamed up to
smuggle refugees out of Southeast Asia for gold. He admitted having
consensual sex with Fleischli but said he then passed out.
Thompson
claims he is innocent and his lawyers say that Leitch, the victim's ex-boyfriend,
is a likelier suspect. At Leitch's trial, Prosecutor Michael Jacobs told
jurors that Leitch was also in the apartment and had the only motive for
murder - anger that she had scuttled his chances of reconciling with his
ex-wife.
Despite pleas, California inmate executed
July 14, 1998
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Convicted murder Thomas
Thompson, who last year earned a stay of execution just hours before he
was set to die, was executed Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied
a last-minute appeal.
Thompson, 43, was pronounced dead by lethal injection
at 12:06 a.m. (3:06 a.m. EDT) at San Quentin state prison near San
Francisco for the 1981 rape and murder of 20-year-old Ginger Fleischli.
Hours before the scheduled execution, the court
denied Thompson's appeal without comment or dissent.
More than a hundred demonstrators gathered outside
the prison to protest the execution. Some held signs that read "Abolish
the death penalty" or "Don't kill in our names."
The execution ended an appeals process by Thompson's
lawyers that last year won him a stay. Thompson was so close to
execution at that time he had ordered his last meal.
"This is a classic Catch-22 that will lead to the
execution of an innocent man," his attorney Andrew Love said Sunday
after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco turned down his
request for renewed consideration of the case.
Prosecutors say Thompson brutally raped and murdered
Fleischli after a night of heavy drinking and smoking hashish at the
Laguna Beach, California, apartment he shared with Fleischli's ex-boyfriend
in 1981. He was convicted of both charges in 1983 and sentenced to die
for the crime.
"Let there be no mistake about this, Mr. Thompson is
a guilty man," Attorney General Dan Lungren said a few hours before the
scheduled execution.
Claim of innocence rejected
Thompson's lawyers said they had evidence that the
sex was consensual and that they suspect the former boyfriend, David
Leitch, of committing murder.
The lawyers hoped the question of whether or not
Thompson raped Fleischli would decide his life. If the rape conviction
was overturned, Thompson's crime would not be considered a capital
murder and he would not be eligible for the death penalty.
Last year the 9th Circuit agreed, deciding less than
36 hours before Thompson's scheduled execution that his rape conviction
should be reversed and his life spared.
California appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which issued a last-minute stay and said it would review the
case.
The Supreme Court revisited the case in April and
this time ruled against Thompson, saying the federal appeals court
overstepped its authority by stopping his execution and that there was
not enough evidence to back his claim of innocence.
Last Saturday, an 11-judge panel of the appeals court
looked at the case again and came to the same conclusion, saying
Thompson's legal team had failed to present "clear and convincing
evidence" that he was not guilty.
Thompson has always said he passed out after having
sex with Fleischli, and that when he awoke she was gone.
Leitch, Fleischli's former boyfriend, was convicted
of second-degree murder for helping to bury the body and is serving a
sentence of 15 years to life.
He has said that Fleischli was already dead when he
returned to the apartment that night. But at a 1995 parole hearing,
Leitch said he saw Thompson and Fleischli having what looked like
consensual sex -- a statement on which Thompson's latest claims of
innocence hinged.
