The Case of Thomas Martin Thompson: Wrongfully Executed for the Murder of Ginger Fleischli..?!
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The Case of Thomas Martin Thompson
Childhood and Early Adulthood
Thomas Martin Thompson, also known as Tommy Thompson, was born on March 20th, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois. When Tommy was 5 years old his parents divorced and he and his sister moved to New York City with their mother, eventually moving again to Orange County, California. Tommy attended Villa Park High School until his senior year before he decided to move back to Chicago to be with his father. He moved on the join the United States Army. He was a great soldier who was given 3 promotions and 4 letters of commendation, later being honorably discharged for an unknown reason. After this he moved back to California to get a higher education at California State University at Fullerton and Santa Ana College on the GI Bill. While there he acquired 67 credits and an overall b average. He went on to acquire many responsible jobs. His first major job was being the photographer for the Santa Ana Fire Department in September in 1978. Everyone said he had a good attitude and he got recommended for a merit step increase, which is a pay raise for classified employees. He resigned in February of 1980 and took a job as a materials supervisor for Fluor Engineers Inc. In Saudi Arabia but eventually getting let go because of a staff reduction. Tommy supported himself with odd jobs while he moved back to California. In his working years, Tommy had many girlfriends. Two of them testified later to his kindness and good heart, adding that Tommy had never been abusive or violent towards them.
The Crime Scene
On September 14th, 1981, two farm workers, working in a rural area in Orange County California discovered a shallow grave. Police arrived and found the deceased body of a young woman, wrapped in a sleeping bag and a pink blanket, all bound together with rope. The body later being identified as Ginger Loraine Fleischli a 20-year-old woman, who had been missing for 3 days. It appeared to investigators she had been raped and stabbed five times in and around one of her ears. The blade reached the length of a two-inch incision, which severed her carotid artery in the side of her head, later determined to be the cause of her death. Her shirt and bra were cut at the front and pulled down to her elbows to fully reveal her breasts. She had no underwear, socks or shoes on either. Her jeans were potentially pulled back onto her with the zipper all the way up, but not buttoned. These were all signs on a possible sexual assault. A vaginal swab was taken, and semen was present. Her head was wrapped in two towels, a bed sheet and her jacket and was secured with duct tape. She had cut on her wrists and ankles along with some ligature marks, appearing to investigators she was handcuffed or bound before her death. Investigators quickly found Thomas Thompson and David Leitch to be prime suspects for this murder and sexual assault.
The Murder
On September 11th, 1981, Thomas Thompson, David Leitch, Ginger Fleischli and Tracy Leitch were all hanging out together. Now some background and connections here. Tommy and David were roommates in the same one room apartment. Tommy was not connected to anyone except David. However, Tommy told the group that his name was Thomas Micheal Young which was suspicious. Now David was previously married to Tracy Leitch, and he had relations with Ginger after the divorce and at the time she was David’s ex-girlfriend. They lived with each other for a while as well. Ginger and Tracy were also roommates in another apartment as well. Tracy suggested they all go to a pizza parlor which they ended up doing. After leaving the pizza parlor, David decided to head back to their apartment. Tracy then drove Thomas and Ginger to a local bar and dropped them off and there they met a man named Afshin Kashani. This was around 9:30pm. They all shared conversations and Thomas eventually invited Ginger and Afshin back to his apartment he shared with David. Around 1am the three walked back to Thomas’ apartment in Laguna Beach, California. Thomas and Afshin then smoked some hash, which is a very concentrated and pressed version on cannabis. At some point Ginger decided she wanted to go buy a soda at a liquor store by the apartment. She left and Thomas told Afshin that he wanted to be alone with Ginger. Afshin left and when Ginger returned Thomas allegedly raped and murdered her before disposing of her body. Now, when Afshin left the apartment, he realized he left his cigarettes at the apartment and returned to get them. When he knocked on the door, Afshin testified that Thomas answered and appeared nervous and handed the cigarettes out the crack in the door. This was used against Thomas later in trial, which I think is one of the many dumb things the prosecutors bring up. Afshin probably realized very quickly that he forgot his cigarettes and would have probably returned within a minute or two. In that minute or two, would tommy really have enough time to fully rape and murder Ginger and her be dead without Afshin hearing anything. He also left before Ginger returned to the apartment so how long was Ginger still gone? Maybe Thomas and Ginger had sexual tension all night and when she got back, they got naked and that's why Thomas didn’t want to open the door. My personal thoughts here, and we’ll get more into theories here.
Ginger’s body was found buried in a field 10 miles away from David and Tommy’s apartment. Tommy did not have any means of transportation at this point in time either. Now these next points were used against Tommy but remember this was Tommy and David’s Apartment they SHARED. So, all the materials found around her body were from their apartment. There was also blood found in the apartment, 6 feet from Tommy’s bed. The fibers from the pink blanket Ginger was wrapped in matches fibers found inside David’s trunk. Also, a footprint that matched David’s was also found near where Ginger was dumped.
The Dismount and Arrest
After Ginger’s murder, David and Tommy both fled to Mexico. David returned to the States and was arrested. Mexico then tracked down Tommy and returned him back to the States as well. Tommy told Police he and Ginger had consensual sex that night and then he fell asleep. He then said he woke up in the morning and Ginger was gone and found her blood near his bed. Both men were charged with murder and Tommy was charged with the rape.
David Leitch’s Trial
Both men were given separate trials, and the prosecution does some shady shit that we’re about to get into but were going to start with David’s trial. David’s trial happened second after Tommy was already convicted and sentenced but were going to start with him anyway. The prosecutors said that Ginger had been threatened by David in the past, which was reported to the police, and he also had a history of criminal violence before this. At the dump site there were his footprints and fibers matching his car to the dumpsite as well. The sleeping bag, blanket and rope were all David’s. Ginger was also stabbed 5 times in the ear with David’s fishing knife which he lied to the police about owning. The prosecution also called a set of jailhouse witnesses to testify against David. They said that Ginger was preventing him from reuniting with his former wife, Tracy, and that David had the motive and the violent disposition for the murder. Here are some different quotes from the prosecution.
“So, we ask ourselves, why would Mr. Thompson murder Ms. Fleischli alone in an apartment where he lived with no transportation, no means to move the body and wait for Mr. Leitch to come home to be an A-1 witness to the murder of his ex-girlfriend? Is that reasonable or logical? Do you think that’s what happened?”
“Who has motive? Mr. Leitch . . .. And his was the only motive or reason for her demise . . .. It’s really the only motive we have in this case, and people have killed for less.”
“All the evidence we have incriminates Mr. Leitch, at best equally, and more so than Mr. Thompson.”
“you think Mr. Thompson did all this by himself and waiting for this good guy to come home so he could see him standing over his dead ex-girlfriend . . .? No, it didn't happen that way.”
David was then convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in 1985 for his role in murdering and disposing of Ginger. The Deputy District Court Attorney had a theory and is as follows: he thinks that David wanted Ginger murdered for some reason and had Tommy do it for him. Ginger had reported to the police weeks prior that David had threatened her life. Tracy Leitch also testified that Ginger asked her “do you think David would have Tom kill me?” Tracy also stated she heard that Tommy would carry a gun on him and that “No one really knew Tom, but everyone thought he was weird.”
Tommy’s Trial
Now for Tommy’s trial. The prosecution completely switched their theories, and this case is a huge case involving a prosecution’s use of Inconsistent Factual Theories of a Crime in Successive Trials. In Tommy’s trial they argued that Tommy acted alone and completely alone. He raped Ginger and murdered her to cover up the rape. At Tommy’s and David’s joined preliminary hearing the prosecution relied on three jail house informants. They testified that Tommy told them that David wanted Ginger dead and hired him to help murder her and dispose of her body. They also said that Tommy had had consensual sex. At the conclusion of this preliminary hearing the judge claimed there was insufficient evidence to convict Tommy of the rape. After it was determined the codefendants would be tried separately, the prosecution then trashed those informants and found two more informants for Tommy’s trial. Most of the prosecution's case was based heavily on these two newfound informants' testimony. One named Edward Fink along with John Del Frate. One of them was actually David’s cellmate. This was the sole connection between Tommy and the rape charges.
Fink testified that while in prison Tommy had confessed to him that he had “wanted to screw” Ginger but she refused his advances, so he had “took it” from her. They then said that Tommy killed Ginger “not wanting any witnesses” to the rape. The prosecution heavily denied that neither informant got any benefits for their testimony but let’s break it down. The prosecution first failed to present to the District Court Fink’s benefit receipts, nor did the District Court press to ask for this info. There are records that Fink had been receiving benefits for 10 years while engaging in a pattern of providing needed information to the prosecution in return for favors. When Fink told authorities about Tommy’s alleged confession, he was in prison at the time for a parole violation. At this time within a two-month span, Fink was trying to obtain his release from custody and assistance at parole hearing by “informing” on two more inmates before Tommy claiming they had confessed to murder as well. Shortly after his testimony in Tommy’s preliminary hearing he was released from custody saying, “the Parole Board found my violation unfounded.” not because of his much-needed information about Tommy’s rape allegations. After this Fink was arrested for another parole violation and again testified against Tommy in the actual trial claiming he only wished to serve his remaining days in prison. However, after Tommy was convicted Fink DID receive benefits from the prosecution which he asked for prior. On August 30th, 1984, 9 months after the conclusion of the trial, the prosecutor wrote to the Board of Prison Terms saying, “Fink’s testimony was a crucial part of the people case,” and urged him to be released before Christmas. The prosecutor also testified on Fink’s behalf in his 1984 parole revocation hearing. Since the Prosecutor didn't give the District Court Fink’s benefit receipts, the Prosecutor was able to argue that Fink asked for no benefits and would receive nothing for his testimony, and that he had no grounds to lie about Tommy’s confession. Without the evidence to argue to the contrary the defense could not factually disagree and dispute Fink’s credibility.
Now let's call to the stand John Del Frate, the second jailhouse informant. Frate testified at the trial something very similar to Fink’s testimony. He said that Tommy told him he raped a woman named Ginger and killer her after she threatened to report it to police. Frate then explained that Tommy stabbed Ginger in the neck, chest and upper torso in addition to the head. Frate continued to say the body was then placed “in a shallow grave.” Now, mind you, Ginger was ONLY stabbed 5 times in the head which killed her. In fact, the only place that the neck, chest and upper torso was wrongly informed to the public was through newspaper articles. The exact “in a shallow grave,” was found in newspaper articles as well that are provided inside the prison for inmates. Frate had a long history as a police informant and had a bad reputation for dishonesty. He lied to the courts about his informant work and the extent of his criminal history. Again, since the prosecution never gave forth evidence to the contrary, that was available, the defense couldn’t argue the testimony and the prosecutors were able to get away with Frate lying about his history. They even proclaimed that Frate “hasn’t been an informant before.” The prosecutor also tried to vigorously exclude the importance of the witness testimony by the defense. Now if you remember Tommy’s trial was first, but we started with David’s trial. Also remember that I mentioned in David’s trial that they called two witnesses who said David had the motive, well these defense witnesses that testified in defense of Tommy were the same witnesses the prosecution served with subpoenas to appear as PROSECUTION witness in David’s trial! They're the same witnesses, testifying the same exact thing in different trials for different theories!! Holy shit
Forensics
Now let's talk about forensics. The Medical Examiner Dr. Richards testified there was bruises on Ginger’s hands, wrists, left elbow and ankles which were caused by “the application of force” and “heavy handling” immediately prior to her death, which suggested that she had been retrained and raped. Richards then admitted that there was “no anatomic evidence of rape,” in the sense of vaginal injury, and continued that there is no vaginal injury in most rape cases and that bruising to other parts of the body are a more certain indicator of rape. A sheriff’s deputy, Mr. Coder testified that the injury to Ginger’s right wrist had been caused by a handcuff which bolstered the theory since at ONE TIME Tommy had owned a pair of handcuffs. The prosecution then relied heavily on this testimony urging that Ginger was bound and raped before being stabbed. He repeated Dr. Richard's testimony that “bruises to other parts of the body, to the wrist, to the ankles, such as we have here are even more important [than the absence of vaginal bruising] in determining what happened to the victim.” After this the jury was instructed by the trial court to consider the “presence of bruising and contusions to the wrist, hands, and ankles,” and a “cut on her wrist,” as evidence of rape. However, as the court found the evidence that a rape had occurred was not substantial and may not have been credible. This was surely open to attack. The defense argued at trial that Dr. Richard's testimony about the numerous injuries to the wrists, ankles and hands close to or at the time of Ginger’s death was NOT true. Dr. Richard's autopsy documents showed there was no injuries to Ginger’s legs and there was one single injury to each of the arms that couldn’t be determined if they happened before or after her death. And in Dr. Richard’s own words in the autopsy report, “remarkably little in the way of trauma,” to the body. And regarding the handcuff injury on Ginger’s right wrist, the pathologist testified that it was inconsistent with a handcuff injury which rebutted the opinion of Deputy Coder. And finally, Ginger was found wearing her jeans, that were zipped up, belted but unbuttoned. There was expert testimony that said if Ginger had engaged in intercourse and she or someone else had then put her jeans on before washing or douching then there would have been semen drainage in her jeans. None was found by the criminalist suggested that she washed up after, which is consistent with consensual sex and inconsistent with the prosecution's allegations of rape. With all this the jury deliberated and on November 4th, 1983, they convicted Tommy of first-degree murder and the forcible rape of Ginger Fleischli, and he was sentence to death. He was then put in San Quentin Penitentiary.
Appeals and an Overturn
After filing many unsuccessful habeas corpus petitions with the California Supreme Court, Tommy was finally granted habeas relief as to his rape conviction. Richard A. Gadbois, Jr. The United States District Judge who was appointed by President Regan, presided over a three-day evidentiary hearing during Mr. Thompson’s federal habeas proceeding. He vacated the rape conviction and rape special circumstance finding, as well as the death penalty. Finding Tommy’s constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel had been violated. He stated; “While the Court found that Petitioner’s remaining claims do not rise to the level of constitutional error, many of them nevertheless leave the Court with an unsettling feeling. The disparate convictions and sentences of Thompson and Leitch, for example, while legally permissible, are troubling to this court given the intensity of public perceptions in these cases and the deficiency of certainty regarding relative culpabilities. These concerns should be carefully considered by the State when deciding if society would be best served by retrying these charges, now almost fourteen years old.”
Along with this the court also heard that David Leitch testified to his defense attorneys in 1982 that he walked in on Tommy and Ginger having consensual sex that he witnessed. David then testified to the same fact again to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office at his 1995 parole hearing a year later. The jury nor the court had any chance to hear this evidence during the trial because these facts were withheld from Tommy’s defense attorneys which puts forth a strong case that Tommy’s constitutional rights to effective assistance of counsel had been violated. Having reviewed the ‘new’ yet old evidence upon the evidentiary hearing, two jurors who voted to sentence Mr. Thompson to death now believe his sentence should be reduced to life in prison without any possibility of parole. Seven former prosecutors all urged the United States Supreme Court to grant a writ of certiorari in this case of Thomas Thompson.
(This is a request that the Supreme Court order a lower court to send up the record of the case for review. The Court usually is not under any obligation to hear these cases, and it usually only does so if the case could have national significance, might harmonize conflicting decisions in the federal Circuit courts, and/or could have precedential value. In fact, the Court only accepts 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review every year.)
These prosecutors believe that “there are many disturbing aspects to the convictions and death sentence rendered and upheld in Thompsons case that leave us with little confidence that the death penalty is appropriate in this case.” The prosecutors still “believe in the imposition of the death penalty in an appropriate case, where the death sentence is the product of fair and reliable proceedings” These prosecutors did not believe this case produced a fair or even a reliable result. So, with all this new info, the court reversed Tommy’s death sentence.
Reinstated Death Sentence
HOWEVER, a unanimous three judge decision was made by the panel of the Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit to reverse the District Court’s decision to pardon Tommy’s death sentence and reinstated his death sentence.
The Court of Appeals panel also noted the strong rape evidence presented by the state and that Tommy couldn’t demonstrate prejudice under prevailing legal standard, even if the court accepted his ineffective assistance of counsel argument. They then denied Tommy’s petition for a rehearing and on June 11, 1997, the Court of Appeals issued a mandate to deny all habeas relief petitions in Tommy case. Another habeas petition was filed but it ultimately failed two days before Tommy’s scheduled execution date. The court noted the June 1997 mandate to deny these appeals, which they did. Shortly after this the United States Supreme Court denied Tommy’s petition for certiorari. The state appealed the Supreme Court's decision calling the Court of Appeals actions a grave abuse of discretion. After this the Governor of California Pete Wilson conducted the final clemency review. The clemency petition contained all the info and messed up shit I already told you about. All the new evidence, the former prosecutors' opinions that this was a disturbing case and all of it. It also stated the State of California can't perform an intracase proportionally review to review if the penalty imposed in a particular capital case is disproportionate to the penalty imposed in other cases. Tommy defense said that this can only be achieved within the clemency process. Continuing that it was fundamentally unfair that one defendant be escorted into the death chamber whilst the other defendant is eligible for parole. They brought up also that the District Attorney that prosecuted Tommy and the Judge who presided over the case both admitted they had no clue what Tommy’s actual participation in the murder was and they both admitted also that Tommy had zero motivation to do either the rape or the murder. The clemency petition continues that in granting clemency in capital cases, California Govenor's have cited and relied on a number of factors. Each of these factors being present in Mr. Thompson’s case. Affirmative aspects of inmate's background, character or history suggesting the aberrational nature of the offense as an event in the inmates life or the inmates capacity for rehabilitations, or otherwise suggesting the appropriateness of granting mercy to the inmate, including (a) lack of prior criminal record, (b) no prior history of violence, ( c) honorable service in the armed forces, (d) a good work record, and (e) educational accomplishment. Tommy checks all these boxes. In fact, out of 7 capital cases in the state of California that involved a special rape circumstance, Tommy was the only one who had zero criminal history prior to the offense. All the other 6 did. They also noted that Tommy adjusted very well to life in prison. One corrections officer Scott Powell stated that Tommy prevented the murder of another officer. When Tommy found out about the planned hit, he informed the prison and halted the potential murder. Powell also stated that Tommy was well liked, he worked hard, even being put in the worst of the worst working environments and never complained. He said that Tommy would make him coffee and Powell would share a cold coke. Tommy always gave the metal can back. He also noted Tommy worked in the Armed Service and was involved in Veterans activities at San Quentin noting he had deep respect for the military. Another officer, Scott Hixson stated that Tommy was the best worker and that without snitching he would also let Hixson know when trouble was brewing. He also noted how artistic Tommy was and that he was the best painter in the row. Tommy had never been given a write up and had a first name basis with all the officers and inmates including Hixson who said, “he is the only inmate I allow to call me by my first name.” Hixson and Tommy developed a strong bond over the 3 years together and “he is the only inmate behind bars I would trust with my life.” Even with all this the clemency petition was denied.
Sentence Served..
And on July 13th, 1998, Tommy ate his last meal consisting of Alaskan King Crab Legs with melted butter, Mandarin Style Spareribs, Pork Fried Rice, a spinach salad, a hot fudge sundae and a 6 pack of coca cola. At 11:48 p.m. Tommy was taken to the execution chamber and the IV was placed into his arm. The chamber doors were shut at 11:54. At 11:58 the media witnesses were let into the showing room and at midnight the curtains opened. At 12:01 a.m. the lethal injection begun and at 12:06 on July 14th, 1998, Thomas Martin Thompson, age 43, was pronounced dead almost 17 years after the murder of Ginger Fleischli. After his death the Warden Art Calderon read Tommy’s last word’s saying “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." And with that his sentence... was served.
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