FOX 11 reporter recalls witnessing California execution in 1998
LOS ANGELES (FOX 11) - On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a halt on executions in the state of California.
Related: Gov. Newsom places moratorium on executions; order affects 737 inmates on nation's largest death row
FOX 11's Hal Eisner shared his experience of witnessing the 1998 execution of convicted rapist and murderer Thomas Martin Thompson at California's San Quentin State Prison:
On Sept. 14, 1981, the body of Ginger Lorraine Fleischli was found by farm workers in rural Irvine. Her body was wrapped in a sleeping bag, a pink blanket, she was tied up with a rope... her head was wrapped in duct tape. Thomas Martin Thompson was linked to the crime, tried, convicted and sentenced to execution by lethal injection.
On July 14, 1998, Thompson was executed at San Quentin. I was assigned to cover the execution. More than that, though, I was selected as a "media witness" to the execution which meant I was one of 17 members of the media to represent the public as witnesses. Videography and still photography are not allowed in the California death chamber. So, in an effort to show what I saw we hired artist Steve Werblum who, from my copious notes, drew what I had seen and we showed viewers what I saw. It's been over 20 years.