Bio 

Lloyd Wayne Hampton was born in Texas and spent much of his life moving between prisons and short periods of freedom. Public records describe him as a drifter who had a long history of criminal behavior beginning in his youth. Hampton was a seventh-grade dropout and had spent most of his adult life incarcerated. According to contemporary reports, he had been free for only about four years since 1973.

His criminal history included convictions for robbery, assault, and other violent offenses. In 1987, he was convicted in California for torturing a woman in Bakersfield and was sentenced for assault with a deadly weapon. During the attack, Hampton reportedly terrorized the victim for several hours by threatening her with a knife and physically assaulting her.

Court records and psychological reports portrayed Hampton as a man with a long history of anger, violence, and antisocial behavior. Shortly before his execution, he stated:

"I've been running from myself since I was a small boy in Texas, and my years have been filled with intense anger and rage."

Despite opportunities for rehabilitation, Hampton repeatedly returned to criminal conduct and accumulated an extensive record of arrests and convictions.

Murder Story

On February 8, 1990, Lloyd Wayne Hampton encountered Roy E. "Jasper" Pendleton at a motel in Troy, Illinois. According to Hampton's confession, he initially asked Pendleton for a ride to St. Louis and offered to pay for gasoline. Pendleton refused and returned to his motel room. A few minutes later, Hampton knocked on Pendleton's door and asked if he could use the bathroom. Pendleton allowed him inside.

Once inside the room, Hampton immediately began robbing the elderly man. He ordered Pendleton to lie on the bed while he searched through the room and decided to steal a suitcase, a microwave oven, and other property. To prevent Pendleton from resisting, Hampton tied his wrists and ankles with rope and a nylon dog leash. He placed tape over the victim's mouth and eventually over his nose.

Hampton then attempted to suffocate Pendleton by covering his mouth and nose with his hand. Believing that dead bodies do not bleed, Hampton cut Pendleton's forehead several times to determine whether he had died. When the wounds bled, Hampton continued trying to suffocate him.

He then stabbed Pendleton in the throat with a butcher knife. The knife remained lodged in the victim's neck when authorities later discovered the body. Investigators also found evidence that Hampton had tortured the victim before the killing. Pendleton's eyelids had been burned with a cigarette, and the knife had been used to terrorize him before the fatal wound.

After the murder, Hampton stole Pendleton's car and possessions, including a $500 check that he forced the victim to make payable to himself. He drove to Bugg's Lounge in Livingston, Illinois, where he unsuccessfully attempted to cash the check. He then bought a round of drinks for patrons at the bar. Later, Hampton drove to a Texaco truck stop in Troy. There, police arrested him on an unrelated matter.

The officers recognized the vehicle as belonging to Roy Pendleton. They discovered the $500 check and keys to Pendleton's safe-deposit boxes in Hampton's possession. After confirming ownership of the vehicle, officers went to Pendleton's motel room and discovered his body.Hampton subsequently confessed to the killing and gave investigators a videotaped statement detailing the crime.

Forensic evidence strongly supported the confession. Police recovered Hampton's fingerprints from the motel room, cigarette butts containing saliva consistent with Hampton's, and blood on his pants that matched Pendleton. Hampton pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder arising from the killing, including intentional murder and murder committed during the commission of armed robbery and burglary.

He waived his right to a jury sentencing hearing and requested execution, stating that once his required state appeals were completed, he did not want anyone pursuing further appeals on his behalf. In June 1990, a judge sentenced Hampton to death. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the sentence in 1992.

Hampton's first execution date was scheduled for November 11, 1992. Hours before the execution was to take place, he changed his mind and allowed his attorney to file an appeal, resulting in a stay of execution. Over the next several years, he pursued additional state and federal appeals, including a habeas corpus petition that ultimately failed.

While incarcerated, Hampton wrote letters to prosecutors threatening to kill a jail guard if he was not executed and repeatedly stated that he felt little or no remorse for murdering Roy Pendleton.

Eventually, all of his appeals were exhausted. On January 21, 1998, Lloyd Wayne Hampton was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois. He declined a traditional final meal and requested only Coca-Cola and unfiltered Camel cigarettes.

His final written statement read:

"I offer no excuses for the things I have done or have not done. The reasons are irrelevant."

He was pronounced dead shortly after midnight, becoming the eleventh person executed under Illinois' reinstated death penalty law.