On August 15, 1995, while on trial for the murder of a seventy-six-year-old cancer patient William George Compton, Christopher Charles Lightsey was gagged for continually disrupting court proceedings.
Lightsey stabbed Compton forty-two times and stole his gun collection.
Police connected Lightsey to the murder when the victimâs rifle surfaced at a pawn shop.
During the trial, the judge repeatedly threatened to remove Lightsey from the courtroom if he did not calm down. The killer yelled obscenities and made obscene gestures at prosecutor Lisa Green.
âI did not kill anybody! This is a fraud!â Lightsey exclaimed during sentencing.
The judge had no choice but to physically gag the defendant with duct tape and a wad of gauze.
Lightsey had an extensive criminal history prior to Comptonâs murder.
Between 1976 and 1986, Lightsey was convicted of two drug-related offenses.
The severity of Lightseyâs crimes escalated in 1989 when he was arrested and accused of molesting eight students at Our Lady of Guadalupe School, where he worked as a substitute.
The second-grade students testified that Lightsey touched them on their bottoms.
Following his release from prison, Lightsey’s name resurfaced in 1990 when he became a suspect in the killing of four-year-old Jessica Martinez, who lived in the same apartment complex as Lightsey.
His friends told the police Lightsey was gone for several hours on the day Martinez disappeared and returned to his apartment with a âfidgety demeanor.â
In 2008, detectives obtained Lightseyâs DNA to compare to DNA found on Jessica Martinezâs clothing. It didnât match.
However, he isn’t being ruled out.
“Everything with Christopher Lightsey was checked,” said Bakersfield Police Detective Christopher Feola.
“I think it’s just the totality of everything with him and the person he is or that he’s become…it’s kind of a continued focus on him. I know he’s been interviewed several times and he’s vehemently denied any involvement in this.”
âAll murderers in my mind are psychopaths,â prosecutor Lisa Green said after sentencing Lightsey to death. âHe (Lightsey) certainly fits that bill.â
As of 2023, 70-year-old Christopher Charles Lightsey continues to serve his sentence on death row at San Quentin Prison.
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