[1] On March 25, 1984, Thompson and a fellow transient, 44-year-old Robert Herman Boyle, were drinking at the Murderer's Bar, located about 4 miles northeast of Auburn, California.
[6] Boyle headed to Salt Lake City, Utah while Thompson continued towards Reno, committing multiple robberies along the way.
[8][9] Since he was still in Nevada's jurisdiction, it was decided that he would first be tried for Waldron's murder, while Boyle (who had been arrested earlier in the week in Salt Lake City) had already been extradited to the Placer County Jail.
[7] On September 27, he was sentenced to death, which Thompson appeared to receive rather calmly, as he was seen patting his attorney on the back and thanking him for the hard work until he was led out of the room.
[17] By that time, it was determined that Boyle had little to no actual involvement in the killings, and as part of a deal struck with the prosecutor, he would testify against Thompson in exchange for immunity.
[6] Throughout the proceedings, Thompson appeared disinterested, reading a paperback book and discussing how good the food on Nevada's death row was, before entering a guilty plea for the double murder at the end of the trial.
[18] Before the sentence could be applied, his lawyer requested that Thompson undergo medical tests to determine whether he had brain lesions that might have affected his judgment at the time of the crimes, which was accepted.
On the day before his execution, he granted his first and only interview to a reporter for the Associated Press via telephone, in which he explained his reasons for dropping his appeals and retelling his life story.
[1] In that interview, he also confessed to carrying out three contract murders in New York, Kansas and Oklahoma, with the last one being of a federal prosecutor who had convicted his prison acquaintances.
[2] He spent the last hours of his life talking to the prison chaplain and another death row inmate, and just before entering the chamber, guards reported that his last words were "Thank you for letting me die with dignity.