Execution Report: Robert Thompson

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A jury convicted Thompson of capital murder in March 1998 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in June 2003. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Samuel Lee Butler was convicted of three counts of capital murder, plus one conviction for aggravated robbery, and was sentenced to life in prison. He remains in custody as of this writing.

The day before Thompson's execution, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 5-2 to recommend that Governor Rick Perry commute his death sentence to life. It was only the fourth time during Perry's nine-year tenure that the board has made such a recommendation.

The governor cannot grant clemency without the board's recommendation, but he is not obligated to follow it. In 2004, the board recommended clemency for Kelsey Patterson over concerns over his mental competency. Perry denied to issue clemency, and Patterson was executed. Perry approved a clemency request in 2007, however, for Doil Lane, who was found to be mentally retarded.

In 2007, Perry granted clemency for Kenneth Foster. Like Thompson, Foster was convicted and sentenced to death under the law of parties. However, in making his decision to spare Foster from the death chamber, Perry stated that his reason was because Foster and his co-defendant were tried and convicted together. Thompson and Butler were tried separately.

"After reviewing all the facts in the case of Robert Lee Thompson, who had a murderous history and participated in the killing of [Rahim], I have decided to uphold the jury's capital murder conviction and capital punishment for this heinous crime," Perry said in a written statement on the morning of Thompson's execution.

Thompson, who converted to Islam while in prison, began his last statement by praising Allah and expressing love to his mother and friends. He then apologized for his crime. "I never meant any of your family to get hurt," he said to an empty chamber normally occupied by the victim's family. "I know Allah will forgive me." While Thompson was speaking, his mother, Audrey Champs, stamped her feet and sobbed "Oh God, oh God, oh God". She asked to be escorted from the witness room. The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 20 November 2009. Grammatical correction made and Doil Lane's case added to the clemency recap on 30 June 2015.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Associated Press, Houston Chronicle, court documents, public records.