Charles Thompson was executed in Texas on January 29, 2026, for the 1998 double murder of his ex-girlfriend and her friend.

Charles Thompson was executed by lethal injection in Texas on January 29, 2026, becoming the first person put to death in the U.S. in the year. He was found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend Dennise Hayslip and her friend Darren Cain in Houston in 1998. Despite claims of self-defense and medical errors during Hayslip’s treatment, prosecutors maintained Thompson was responsible for her death. Due to legal infractions, his initial death sentence was reversed in 2001, but he was given a new death sentence in 2005. He was apprehended in Louisiana in 2005 after breaking free from his handcuffs and leaving the jail. A request for commutation was turned down by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and the U.S. His last appeal was denied by the Supreme Court.