A DOUBLE-MURDERER told the families of his victims that his execution would “traumatize more people” and begged for forgiveness moments before he died.
Killer Charles Victor Thompson, 55, died by lethal injection on Wednesday – marking the first US execution of the year.
Thompson was given the death penalty for the 1998 murders of his ex-girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her boyfriend, Darren Cain, 30.
They were shot at Hayslip’s home in a suburb of Houston.
Cain was found dead at the scene and Hayslip died from her wounds in hospital a week later.
Before being given the lethal dose, Thompson apologised to the families of his victims – adding that he hoped they can “begin to heal and move past this”.
“There are no winners in this situation,” he said, adding that his execution “creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later”.
In his final words, he added: “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 and that … keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first.”
Thompson reportedly gasped loudly as the injection began taking effect, before taking about a dozen breaths that turned into snoring sounds.
He was pronounced dead about 22 minutes later.
After the execution, Dennis Cain, whose son was killed by Thompson, said: “He’s in hell.”
Wade Hayslip, Hayslip’s son from a previous marriage, who was 13 when his mother was killed, planned to attend the execution.
Speaking to USA Today, Hayslip said Thompson’s execution will be “the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one”.
“I’m looking forward to the new one,” he said.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Tear said: “This chapter is closed… it was justice a long time coming.”
The US Supreme Court issued a brief order rejecting a final appeal from Thompson just an hour before the scheduled execution.
According to court records, Thompson visited Hayslip’s apartment at 3am on the night of the murders and got into an argument with Cain.
Thompson left after police were called – but he returned three hours later and shot the couple.
After his trial, Thompson’s original death sentence was overturned.
But a jury against sentenced him to die by lethal injection after a new trial in November 2005.
Following his re-sentencing, Thompson escaped from jail in Houston and spent three days on the run before he was caught trying to flee to Canada.
There were 47 executions in the United States last year – the most since 2009 when 52 inmates were put to death.
Florida carried out the most, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas – and 39 were carried out by lethal injection.
Three were by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia – which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.
Use of nitrogen gas as a method has been denounced by UN experts as cruel and inhumane.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others – California, Oregon and Pennsylvania – have temporary bans in place.
Donald Trump is a supporter of capital punishment – and has called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes”.
