Jury convicts Walker on all counts
By Kat Russell, Reporter
The Paducah Sun
April 2, 2016
http://www.paducahsun.com/news/local/033116_PS_Walker_Day2
Kat Russell / The Paducah Sun
After three hours of deliberation Friday, jurors in the trial of former Paducah Middle School assistant principal Jerry Walker voted unanimously to convict him on all counts and recommended he serve three years in prison.
Walker, 40, was charged with perjury, tampering with physical evidence and witness tampering after he testified to a Kentucky Department of Education tribunal in 2013 while appealing his termination for having an affair.
Following the jury's verdict, the commonwealth requested that any time recommended in Walker's sentence run consecutively to a 10-year diverted sentence he received in 2012.
The previous sentence goes back to a case that started in 1998 after a dorm fire at Murray State University killed an 18-year-old student. Walker was charged with murder and arson in Calloway County, but a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.
In 2012, the commonwealth revisited the 1998 case against Walker, which ended with Walker pleading guilty to six counts of tampering with evidence for fabricating evidence. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, which was diverted for five years.
If, after those five years, Walker had adhered to the criteria laid out in his plea agreement, which included committing no further offenses, the charges would be dismissed.
Friday's conviction means Walker's diversion could be revoked. A hearing will be held in Calloway County to determine if revocation is warranted. If it is, Walker could face a total of 13 years in prison.
During closing arguments Friday, both attorneys focused on the commonwealth's belief that Walker fabricated photos to present as evidence during the tribunal and coached his mistress to lie for him.
Linked to those photos are two key dates: May 25, when Walker was supposed to attend a state track meet in Louisville, and June 22, when he and his mistress, Jennifer Griffith, allegedly traveled to Louisville and took staged photos to make it look like he was at the track meet.
Defense attorney Dennis Null presented his closing statement first, during which he said Walker couldn't have gone to Louisville with Griffith on June 22 based on the testimony his wife and daughter had given the day before.
On Thursday, Karen Walker testified she and her husband attended their daughter's softball game, then stopped by a teammate's birthday party and later took their daughter to Dallas Medical Center to be treated for an ear infection.
"I submit to you that it was impossible that Jerry Walker went with Jennifer Griffith to Red Robins (in Louisville) on June 22," Null said.
Null also claimed it was Griffith who masterminded the plot to deceive the tribunal and took most of the actions to bring that deception to fruition.
"(Jennifer Griffith) was running the show," he said. "Jerry was wanting to maybe not even go through with the tribunal hearing ... but she was encouraging him to go forward. To say somehow or another that Jerry was influencing her and her testimony, looks to me like it's absurd to make that argument."
Null said the case against his client boiled down to whether Walker had fabricated those photos then tried to change the file information within the images to make it look like they were taken on May 25.
"What you have to decide, unanimously, is that you believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, that those pictures were taken on June 22 when I say it's impossible and the evidence suggests it's impossible," he said.
Following the defense, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Raymond McGee took his turn at the podium.
"The truth is a stubborn thing for Jerry Walker," he began. "It's been a stubborn thing for Jerry Walker throughout this case and throughout this investigation. It was a stubborn thing for him throughout the tribunal. And the truth is Jerry Walker is guilty. He is guilty."
McGee walked the jury through the commonwealth's evidence, connecting each of the dots, while alleging Walker lied about his whereabouts on May 25 and June 22 and convinced his wife to lie for him as well.
"Why does anyone lie?" he said. "Why would anyone fabricate evidence? Why would anyone commit some kind of fraud? It's to benefit themselves; to promote their agenda. And when you see a person going through a trial, and he does what Jerry has done in this case and in the tribunal ... you get to see their moral compass. And Jerry's moral compass is not pointing in the right direction. I'm telling you, you can't trust a thing he has presented in this case. Nothing."
McGee also accused Walker of undermining the teacher tenure system during the tribunal.
"He's undermined the Kentucky Department of Education system that can get rid of a bad teacher," he said. "If there were the idea that teachers who had tenure can go to the hearing and make up anything they want, put in fake evidence and witnesses that are going to lie for them, we could never fire a bad teacher. And we're here because this is a real crime, it's a substantial crime, ... and there is no question he is guilty."
Walker's sentencing is scheduled for July 1. The judge can decide to uphold the jury's recommendation, reduce the recommended time or probate his sentence.
Contact Kat Russell, a Paducah staff writer, at 270-575-8653.
Walker, 40, was charged with perjury, tampering with physical evidence and witness tampering after he testified to a Kentucky Department of Education tribunal in 2013 while appealing his termination for having an affair.
Following the jury's verdict, the commonwealth requested that any time recommended in Walker's sentence run consecutively to a 10-year diverted sentence he received in 2012.
The previous sentence goes back to a case that started in 1998 after a dorm fire at Murray State University killed an 18-year-old student. Walker was charged with murder and arson in Calloway County, but a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.
In 2012, the commonwealth revisited the 1998 case against Walker, which ended with Walker pleading guilty to six counts of tampering with evidence for fabricating evidence. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, which was diverted for five years.
If, after those five years, Walker had adhered to the criteria laid out in his plea agreement, which included committing no further offenses, the charges would be dismissed.
Friday's conviction means Walker's diversion could be revoked. A hearing will be held in Calloway County to determine if revocation is warranted. If it is, Walker could face a total of 13 years in prison.
During closing arguments Friday, both attorneys focused on the commonwealth's belief that Walker fabricated photos to present as evidence during the tribunal and coached his mistress to lie for him.
Linked to those photos are two key dates: May 25, when Walker was supposed to attend a state track meet in Louisville, and June 22, when he and his mistress, Jennifer Griffith, allegedly traveled to Louisville and took staged photos to make it look like he was at the track meet.
Defense attorney Dennis Null presented his closing statement first, during which he said Walker couldn't have gone to Louisville with Griffith on June 22 based on the testimony his wife and daughter had given the day before.
On Thursday, Karen Walker testified she and her husband attended their daughter's softball game, then stopped by a teammate's birthday party and later took their daughter to Dallas Medical Center to be treated for an ear infection.
"I submit to you that it was impossible that Jerry Walker went with Jennifer Griffith to Red Robins (in Louisville) on June 22," Null said.
Null also claimed it was Griffith who masterminded the plot to deceive the tribunal and took most of the actions to bring that deception to fruition.
"(Jennifer Griffith) was running the show," he said. "Jerry was wanting to maybe not even go through with the tribunal hearing ... but she was encouraging him to go forward. To say somehow or another that Jerry was influencing her and her testimony, looks to me like it's absurd to make that argument."
Null said the case against his client boiled down to whether Walker had fabricated those photos then tried to change the file information within the images to make it look like they were taken on May 25.
"What you have to decide, unanimously, is that you believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, that those pictures were taken on June 22 when I say it's impossible and the evidence suggests it's impossible," he said.
Following the defense, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Raymond McGee took his turn at the podium.
"The truth is a stubborn thing for Jerry Walker," he began. "It's been a stubborn thing for Jerry Walker throughout this case and throughout this investigation. It was a stubborn thing for him throughout the tribunal. And the truth is Jerry Walker is guilty. He is guilty."
McGee walked the jury through the commonwealth's evidence, connecting each of the dots, while alleging Walker lied about his whereabouts on May 25 and June 22 and convinced his wife to lie for him as well.
"Why does anyone lie?" he said. "Why would anyone fabricate evidence? Why would anyone commit some kind of fraud? It's to benefit themselves; to promote their agenda. And when you see a person going through a trial, and he does what Jerry has done in this case and in the tribunal ... you get to see their moral compass. And Jerry's moral compass is not pointing in the right direction. I'm telling you, you can't trust a thing he has presented in this case. Nothing."
McGee also accused Walker of undermining the teacher tenure system during the tribunal.
"He's undermined the Kentucky Department of Education system that can get rid of a bad teacher," he said. "If there were the idea that teachers who had tenure can go to the hearing and make up anything they want, put in fake evidence and witnesses that are going to lie for them, we could never fire a bad teacher. And we're here because this is a real crime, it's a substantial crime, ... and there is no question he is guilty."
Walker's sentencing is scheduled for July 1. The judge can decide to uphold the jury's recommendation, reduce the recommended time or probate his sentence.
Contact Kat Russell, a Paducah staff writer, at 270-575-8653.
