State Department Warns Against Traveling To Paris Suburbs; Interview with Don Clark
LIN: Welcome back. An escaped convicted killer is still on the loose. Write this name down, Charles Victor Thompson. He was able to walk out of a Texas jail this week. The breakout has left authorities completely embarrassed, red-faced. And many people now are terrified that they might be killed, because this man is out free. CNN's Keith Oppenheim live from Houston tonight. Keith, what are they going to do to find this guy?</s>KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for one thing, Carol, they are hoping to get some tips to find Charles Victor Thompson, and they have also posted a $10,000 reward for information that would lead to his capture. The tale of how Thompson got out of the jail behind me on one level shows that he was probably a good con artist. On another, it's not very flattering to employees here, who unwittingly let a death row murder convict walk out the front door.</s>OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Charles Victor Thompson is a 35-year-old convicted killer. Prosecutors described him as a pretty boy, someone who looked appealing but was in fact deadly. On Thursday afternoon at the Harris County Jail in Houston, police say Thompson found a way to transform himself and con his way out through these doors to freedom.</s>CHIEF DEPUTY DANNY BILLINGSLY, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: There's a series of mistakes here. It's like a lot of catastrophic events that happened.</s>OPPENHEIM: Investigators believe Thompson smuggled street clothes that he wore for a court appearance back to his jail cell, and then found a way to change in a booth like this one, a booth used by meetings between attorneys and inmates.</s>LT. JOHN MARTIN, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: He got out of his inmate jumpsuit, the orange clothing they commonly wear, changed into his civilian clothing. He was handcuffed when he was taken into the attorney booth, and apparently he was able to get out of the handcuffs. We do not know if he had a key or if he just slipped the cuffs off.</s>HARRIS: It was in April of 1998 that prosecutors say Charles Victor Thompson stormed into the apartment of his ex-girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip, shot her and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Caine (ph). Both victims died. Thompson was found guilty and sent to death row. On appeal, Texas courts upheld the conviction, but ruled that during the trial, Thompson's right to counsel had been violated. He was granted a new sentencing hearing, but once again received the death penalty. Officials say within 45 days, he would have been transferred back to state prison and death row. Now, he's a killer on the loose.</s>OPPENHEIM: And keep in mind, Carol, that while Thompson was in prison, prosecutors say that he developed a hit list of more potential murder victims, and on that list, included on that list, were members of his ex-girlfriend's family, of his murder victims, of his murder victim. And the cause of that, Wynona Donaghy, who's the mother of the ex-girlfriend, she has told us that she's quite afraid. She's actually under local police protection right now, and she feels that this guy will do whatever he wants to do, and she won't feel comfortable, as can you imagine, until he is back in custody.</s>LIN: Right, she's even said that she he is capable of doing anything. So look at the list of people who feel threatened. You've got the victim's mother, you know, the family members involved, and even, Keith, true, jurors who convicted him?</s>OPPENHEIM: That's right. I mean, keep in mind, this guy was sentenced to die twice. Most recently, Friday of last week is when a jury decided, just in a resentencing hearing, not on conviction, that he should be put to death, by law in Texas. And now, the panel of jurors is worried that they could also be targets now that he is loose.</s>LIN: All right. Well, let's hope that he's more worried about just staying under cover and getting away than trying to kill any more people. Keith, thank you. Keith Oppenheim is going to be on this story throughout the night. Now, you have to have so many unanswered questions, because we're asking them here, about this escape. And the biggest one, of course, is, how did a death row inmate just walk out of jail? Former FBI special agent Don Clark joins me now. Don, are you familiar at all with this jail facility?</s>DON CLARK, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, I am somewhat familiar, Carol. As you know, being head of the FBI here in Houston, I've worked with this Harris County Sheriff's Department for a number of years. And quite frankly, they're a pretty good department.</s>LIN: Right, I mean, he was only in a county facility, because he was at trial once again, right? I mean, he should have been in some kind of maximum facility.</s>CLARK: Well, that's true. He was in here a county facility because he was going through the judicial process here. But nonetheless, the county facilities, they have to have themselves organized such that...</s>LIN: OK.</s>CLARK: ... they can handle from the most minimum security...</s>LIN: Right.</s>CLARK: ... to the maximum...</s>LIN: All right.</s>CLARK: ... security.</s>LIN: So the investigator in this case, and the sheriff himself, even said there were four opportunities to stop this guy before he hit the streets, right?</s>CLARK: Yes, that's true.</s>LIN: So he turns to...</s>CLARK: And that's the part -- Go ahead, Carol.</s>LIN: No, I'm saying, Don, because he turned to the deputy at one point and said, Oh, you know, I've got a meeting. Right? So this meeting, presumably with an attorney, was going to take place in a room with a plexiglass divider, but a deputy would not be present at that.</s>CLARK: Yes, well, normally a deputy would probably not be present if a person is meeting with his attorney. But the security should extend itself around that meeting, so that they could make sure that nothing exchanged, no one is touched, and that...</s>LIN: So how'd he get the clothes?</s>CLARK: ... no one has the opportunity to get out.</s>LIN: How'd he get the clothes and the phony badge, then?</s>CLARK: Well, now, information that I've been able to get about the clothes is that these may have been clothes that he had previously worn, and instead of turning those clothes in, that he somewhat -- he may have hidden those clothes in some place and went back to them. But there again is another security lapse. Where were the people that should have been watching him go through each one of these processes?</s>LIN: So what are your sources telling you? Did this guy just charm his way through the doors? Or people are just really not qualified for those jobs? People should be fired.</s>CLARK: Well, you know, I'll let their group and their committees decide whether they should be fired, or if even there was someone acting in complicity with him on this, so that has to be...</s>LIN: You mean like an insider?</s>CLARK: ... ferreted out too. That...</s>LIN: An insider?</s>CLARK: Yes, there could possibly have been an insider in this. I'm not saying that there was, but certainly it possibly could have been, and nonetheless, that avenue has to be explored. So you got to look at that the aspect. Then you've got to look at the rules and procedures that took place. And clearly, this guy is definitely a con man, in addition to having murdered people.</s>LIN: All right, so if he goes out and he kills again, Don, what do you think should happen to those people on duty when he walked out the door?</s>CLARK: Well, I think the system will take care of that, because you'll have to look at that on an individual basis. And we wouldn't want to prejudge what would happen to each one of them. But I'm convinced now, after hearing many of the sheriff's department people talk, that they're very serious about trying to get to the bottom of where the lapses were...</s>LIN: Yes.</s>CLARK: ... from the beginning, to the clothes, to the phony identification...</s>LIN: Absolutely.</s>CLARK: ... and two or three people checking. They've got to ferret that out...</s>LIN: Yes.</s>CLARK: ... and then once they do, they've got to take some swift action.</s>LIN: You bet. And every person on duty that night, or that day, rather, should be on their knees tonight in prayer that this man does not kill somebody tonight, and they catch him really soon. I think we can agree on that.</s>CLARK: You bet. That's what they've got to do.</s>LIN: All right. Don Clark, thank you very much.</s>CLARK: Thank you.</s>LIN: Well, this week, the Bush administration made the fight against bird flu a public priority. Straight ahead, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at where we stand in this fight against this deadly disease.