The "Duh" Newstory of the Day

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Two bad this guy is a double-murderer, because I would really like to give him credit for having some big ole brass balls: :p

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_re_us/death_row_escape

Search on for Texas Death Row Inmate
By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 49 minutes ago



HOUSTON - Authorities searched for a death row inmate Friday who slipped off his handcuffs, changed into street clothes and bluffed his way out of jail by flashing a fake ID badge with a photo of himself.

Charles Victor Thompson, who was sentenced to die for killing his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, got past at least four employees at the Harris County Jail by claiming he worked for the Texas Attorney General's office.

"He's a charming, affable, articulate guy, and I'm sure he used his charming abilities to talk his way out of the jail," said Thompson's attorney, Terrence Gaiser. "He didn't present himself as the desperate, I'll-do-anything type."

The sheriff's department is investigating whether Thompson, 35, had inside help. Investigators found a truck Friday that they said might be connected to the brazen escape.

Sheriff's Lt. John Martin said officials fear Thompson might retaliate against relatives of the woman he murdered. "He's extremely dangerous," Martin said.

Thompson, 35, of the Houston suburb of Tomball, was condemned in 1999 for the shooting deaths a year earlier of Dennise Hayslip, 39, and Darren Keith Cain, 30.

He had been transferred to the jail in Houston because an appeals court had ordered that he be resentenced. A jury issued a new death sentence Oct. 28, but Thompson was still waiting to be transferred back to a prison about 75 miles away.

On Thursday, a deputy took Thompson to a meeting room because Thompson said he had a meeting with his attorney. The visitor, however, was not Gaiser, who said he had no plans to meet Thompson that day. Investigators were questioning the visitor.

The visitor left after a short time, and once Thompson was alone he managed to remove his handcuffs and slip off his bright orange prison jumpsuit, Martin said.

He put on a dark blue shirt, khaki pants and white tennis shoes, which authorities believe were the clothes Thompson wore during his sentencing. Martin said investigators do not know how he managed to keep them.

Thompson somehow left the prisoners booth in the visiting room.

"The booth should be locked," Martin said. "We don't know exactly whether the door was never locked or he was able to defeat the locking mechanism."

Once out of the room, Thompson flashed a fake ID badge that apparently no one examined as he passed at least four jail employees at work stations, including one who let him into the visitors' lobby, Martin said. From there, Thompson walked out into the street.

"Nobody got a real good look at the card, if it was real or not," Martin said. The card had Thompson's photograph.

This was the first escape from the three-year old jail, which has about 3,300 inmates.
 
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Im not sure if out witting Texas law enforcement gives any one bragging rights but the man did have a plan. On the ABC radio news they were claiming that the ID he had was a legitimate ID from the Attorney Generals office.
 
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My first thought has to be about not just letting people waltz into the prison because they say they're lawyers - or the prisoners say they're lawyers. One would think that they might do something like - oh, I don't know - require lawyers to register WITH proof of ID and lawyer status - if they're going to be wandering in and having confidential meetings with death-row inmates.

Of course, that might be a violation of their rights... :rolleyes:

"The booth should be locked," Martin said. "We don't know exactly whether the door was never locked or he was able to defeat the locking mechanism."

Defeat it? A battle of wits or two falls out of three????

;)
 
And here is another Defendant on the other end of the spectrum:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9762527/

[FONT=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif]Man gets prison term to match Bird's jersey [/FONT]
Torpy sentenced to 30 years, then asks for 33 — and is accommodated
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Associated Press[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Updated: 8:31 p.m. ET Oct. 20, 2005[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]OKLAHOMA CITY - A man got a prison term longer than prosecutors and defense attorneys had agreed to — all because of Larry Bird.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The lawyers reached a plea agreement Tuesday for a 30-year term for a man accused of shooting with an intent to kill and robbery. But Eric James Torpy wanted his prison term to match Bird’s jersey number 33.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“He said if he was going to go down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird’s jersey,” Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott said Wednesday. “We accommodated his request and he was just as happy as he could be.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“I’ve never seen anything like this in 26 years in the courthouse. But, I know the DA is happy about it.”[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
 
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