Charles Walker is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed in North Carolina on December 3 for the 1992 mur­der of Elmon Davidson. His con­vic­tion rests sole­ly on the tes­ti­mo­ny of snitch tes­ti­mo­ny because author­i­ties were unable to find Davidson’s body or any evi­dence link­ing Walker to the crime. Walker’s attor­neys have asked North Carolina Governor Mike Easley to grant clemen­cy for their client and to reduce his sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole.

Walker was con­vict­ed on the tes­ti­mo­ny of five wit­ness­es whose rec­ol­lec­tions of the crime were incon­sis­tent and could not be cor­rob­o­rat­ed through phys­i­cal evi­dence. Rahshar Darden, a state wit­ness who tes­ti­fied that he saw Walker fire the fatal shot that killed Davidson, admit­ted that he had shot the vic­tim that day as well. Under a deal with pros­e­cu­tors, Darden plead­ed guilty to sec­ond-degree mur­der in exchange for his tes­ti­mo­ny. Two oth­er wit­ness­es tes­ti­fy­ing against Walker also plead­ed guilty to less­er charges, and the remain­ing two wit­ness­es were impli­cat­ed in the crime but nev­er charged. Stating that ​“real life is not (like the pop­u­lar tele­vi­sion pro­gram) CSI,” Guilford County Chief Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann not­ed that he pros­e­cutes cas­es all of the time based on the tes­ti­mo­ny of eye­wit­ness­es because it’s a rare case where there is phys­i­cal evi­dence or a ​“smok­ing gun.” Walker was diag­nosed as a para­noid schiz­o­phrenic as a youth. (News & Record, November 23, 2004) Read the Press Release Issued by Defense Attorneys for Charles Walker.

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