John Thompson was executed by the State of Texas for a murder committed during a robbery
According to court documents John Thompson would enter a mini storage business for the purpose of robbing it. John Thompson would shoot owner Mary Kneupper who would die days later in hospital
John Thompson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
John Thompson would be executed by lethal injection on July 8 1987
John Thompson Photos
John Thompson FAQ
When was John Thompson executed
John Thompson was executed on July 8 1987
How was John Thompson executed
John Thompson was executed by lethal injection
John Thompson Case
“He wanted his last words to be with God and not anybody here,” Attorney General Jim Mattox said on behalf of executed inmate John Russell Thompson. Although Thompson claims to have had a “spiritual conversation” with God, he accepted his fate to die by lethal injection on Texas’ Death Row.
Ironically, Judge Peter Michael Curry, who is pro-death penalty, claimed that, “Thompson was the only capital murder defendant he had tried who was ‘genuinely remorseful.’” Evidently, Thompson wasn’t convincing enough. The jury gave him the death penalty for the murder of Mary Kneupper.
After nearly ten years on death row, Thompson would finally meet the maker he had claimed to become so close to. On July 7, 1987, prisoner #610 spent his last day on death row just like any other day. After coffee and biscuits with peanut butter, Thompson spent the early morning hours with the prison chaplain. By the late morning, he had visited with his parents John and Etta Thompson, his brother James Thompson, His sister and brother-in-law, Joetta and Robert Thorpe.
Late that afternoon, upon arrival in Huntsville, Thompson spent the rest of the day with his attorneys and the chaplain. At 12:04 am on July 8, Thompson was strapped to the gurney in the death chamber. At 12:20 am, he was pronounced dead.
Thompson was a 32 year-old former laborer and was living in San Antonio. He was a known methamphetamine user and alcoholic. However, around the time of the murder, Thompson’s family thought he had quit abusing drugs.
Thompson had an extensive criminal record prior to his murder conviction. He had been arrested for theft, auto theft, robbery, unlawful carrying of a weapon, burglary and possession of paraphernalia. He also served two years of a six-year prison term for burglary and theft.
On the night of the murder, Thompson constructed an elaborate plan to rob a local savings and loan for money to buy narcotics. With the help of accomplices Esther Cervantes, Christie Sparks and Fernando Guerrero, Thompson thought his plan was foolproof. However, when they arrived at the savings and loan, the four found the office closed. Their backup plan was to go to rob an apartment complex office. Ironically, the apartment office was closed, too.
Desperate for drug money, Cervantes, Sparks and Thompson drove to the Pioneer Store and Lock facility on Interstate 35 and Loop 410 in San Antonio, TX. Thompson went into the office while the manager, Mary Kneupper, struggled to surrender the cash to Thompson. After a shot in the neck with a .45 caliber pistol, Thompson fled the scene without the cash.
A neighbor heard the shot and called the police. After arriving at the hospital, Mary Kneupper, 70, died of a gunshot wound to the neck. Thompson was named as a suspect and arrested later in Plano, TX for robbery.
After two appeals, the courts offered a life sentence in exchange for a plea bargain. They later changed their minds as to make sure there was no chance foe parole. “We couldn’t be assured that he would be walking the streets in twenty years, ready to do this again,” said one of the jurors.
On July 8, 1987, John Russell Thompson was executed by means of lethal injection for the murder of Mary Kneupper of San Antonio, TX.
