Summary of Offense:
Thomas was tried in Sonoma County after his trial was moved from Sacramento because of extensive publicity. Thomas was a parolee who became a janitor at Rio Linda High School, where he raped and killed 18-year-old Michelle Montoya, a senior at the school. He was making his rounds at the school when he heard Montoya on the phone calling for a ride home from school. Thomas, who had been on the job for three days and had eight previous felony convictions that included a previous killing, cornered Montoya in the woodshop and raped her. He then stabbed her in the back, slashed her throat and crushed her skull with a crowbar. After the jury returned a verdict that he should be executed, Thomas was returned to Sacramento for sentencing and was slashed in the face by another inmate while being escorted past a holding cell.
He was sentenced to death in Sonoma County on November 29, 2000.
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