Southwest
Texas posthumously exonerates Tommy Lee Walker, executed 70 years prior for rape and murder of White woman
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Nearly 70 years after the state of Texas put him to death, Dallas County officials formally exonerated Tommy Lee Walker, a 21-year-old Black man executed two years after being wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a White woman.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot on Wednesday asked commissioners to sign a resolution acknowledging Walker’s innocence after finding he was coerced into a confession and convicted by an all-White jury.
The case, the oldest assigned to the Dallas County DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit, involved Walker, a 19-year-old accused of raping and murdering Venice Parker, a 31-year-old White woman, on her way home from work in 1953.
On the night of the killing, Walker was visiting his girlfriend, Mary Louise Smith, who was nine months pregnant, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI).
Tommy Lee Walker during a trial in which he was convicted of killing a woman in 1954. (Dallas Public Library)
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Though witnesses confirmed he was with Smith, he was prosecuted for the murder, which happened 3 miles across town, FOX 4 Dallas reported.
Walker’s son was born the day after the killing on Oct. 1.
Multiple witnesses testified Parker was unable to speak after the attack due to a gash in her neck. However, one police officer claimed she described her attacker as a Black man, according to the DPI.
Tommy Lee Walker was exonerated after his execution after being convicted of killing a woman in 1954. (Dallas Public Library)
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During a review of the case, the district attorney’s office learned hundreds of Black men were questioned about the killing, solely based on their race.
Walker was allegedly interrogated for hours without an attorney, and authorities told him he would face the death penalty unless he confessed, according to the DPI.
Walker signed a confession but almost immediately recanted. There was no other evidence against him.
Officials also said the state allowed misleading evidence during the trial, and the prosecutor took the stand himself as a witness and told the jury Walker was guilty, according to FOX 4.
“I feel that I have been tricked out of my life,” Walker said at his sentencing hearing.
Walker was executed by an electric chair May 12, 1956, at 21 years old.
Tommy Lee Walker takes the stand during his murder trial. (Dallas Public Library)
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“In observance of the constitutional rights afforded to all citizens and in consideration of newly available scientific evidence, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office could not and would not have prosecuted Tommy Lee Walker for the rape and murder of Venice Lorraine Parker,” Creuzot wrote in a statement.
Creuzot said his office dove into the case with assistance from the Innocence Project after Walker’s son, his only living descendant, brought it to their attention.
Walker’s son, Ted Smith, 72, gave testimony at his father’s posthumous exoneration, noting his mother never recovered after the execution.
“He told my mother and she told me. He said, ‘You give me the chair that belongs to someone else. I am innocent.’ That is the last thing my mother told me,” Ted Smith told FOX 4. “This exoneration means the world to me.”
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The resolution stated the county “deems it a moral obligation to acknowledge the injustice surrounding the conviction of Tommy Lee Walker, confront history, and affirm Dallas County’s commitment to justice for all persons, whether living or deceased. … [J]ustice has no statute of limitations.”
Parker’s son, Joseph Parker, 77, also attended the hearing, hugging Smith and apologizing for the loss of his father.
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Los Angeles, Ca
Victims sought after man allegedly points gun at passing cars in Santa Clarita Valley
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help finding witnesses after a man allegedly pointed a handgun at numerous passing cars in Castaic on June 18.
The man was allegedly seen pointing the gun at cars near Lake Hughes Road and Ridge Route Road between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The suspect was described as wearing a red shirt and black shorts.
Authorities provided a photo of the man seen running in the street while holding something in his left hand.
Anyone who may have witnessed the alleged assaults, is a victim of the incident or has information about the case is asked to call Detective Marinelli at (661) 260-4000 ext. 5618.
Los Angeles, Ca
Sweltering heat wave to grip Southern California next week
Southern California is enjoying a comfortable stretch of below-average temperatures that should continue through Father’s Day, but a strong heat wave is looming.
A significant warming trend will begin early next week before peaking Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Another one of those ridges of high pressure is expected to build in, with temperatures really heating up,” KTLA’s Kirk Hawkins said. “We’re looking at temperatures reaching triple digits in parts of the High Desert and Inland Empire as well.”
An extreme heat watch has been issued for parts of Los Angeles County, including Woodland Hills, Pomona, Pasadena, Santa Clarita and other areas, from Tuesday morning through Thursday evening.
Temperatures in those areas could range from the upper 80s to 100 degrees.
The Weather Service suggested the following actions:
- Continue to monitor the latest forecasts, as the amount of heating is still uncertain
- Adjust plans now to stay cool next week
- Check in with elderly neighbors and family members to ensure they are aware of the hot forecast
The high-pressure system is expected to weaken on Thursday, bringing cooler temperatures as we head into next weekend.
Los Angeles, Ca
Armed, dangerous CHP pursuit suspect tied to double homicide in Pomona
A 48-year-old man who led law enforcement on a dangerous pursuit lasting more than an hour is in custody in connection with the shooting deaths of a man and a woman at an upscale Pomona apartment complex Thursday, police announced.
Officers with the Pomona Police Department responded to the Monterey Station Apartments, located at 180 E. Monterey Ave., near North Garey Avenue, just before 3:30 p.m. on reports of a shooting, according to a department news release.
Police, along with responding Los Angeles County firefighters, found the two victims in a fourth-floor apartment.
Paramedics immediately began life-saving measures, but both victims were ultimately declared dead at the scene, investigators said.
Neighbors told KTLA’s Mary Beth McDade that the suspected shooter, Robert Galtman of Pomona, shot his girlfriend and another resident of the apartment complex.
“He shot the girl, that was the girlfriend,” one woman, a resident of the building who did not want to give her name, told KTLA. “I know them because he had tried to hit on me and told me the situation that she was beating him up and that she cheated on him with this guy, the one that was killed.”
Authorities were searching Galtman, who was believed to be in dark-colored sedan that fled the apartments northbound on Towne Avenue near Holt Avenue.
Just before 5 p.m., officers with the California Highway Patrol spotted his vehicle traveling northbound on the 5 Freeway, officials confirmed to KTLA. When officers attempted a traffic stop, he failed to yield and led authorities on a high-speed pursuit that lasted more than an hour.
During the pursuit, he made a U-turn on the freeway and headed southbound before exiting in Castaic and taking Lake Hughes Road through the hills toward the Antelope Valley.
Sky5 was over the dangerous chase as Galtman was seen tossing unknown items from the vehicle, including some type of liquid, swerving dangerously onto the shoulder and refusing to stop as at least four CHP units followed closely behind.
He initially dodged several spike strips deployed by officers, at one point driving on the shoulder in Lancaster before clipping one of the strips with the vehicle’s left side, causing both tires to deflate.
Still refusing to stop, Galtman continued at about 30 mph until a CHP officer accelerated and performed a PIT maneuver that spun the vehicle and disabled it.
He was quickly surrounded by officers with guns drawn but did not immediately comply.
Following law enforcement commands, Galtman exited the vehicle, surrendered and was taken into custody.
The identities of the two victims are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Authorities have not released a motive in the deadly shooting. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact the Pomona Police Department’s Detective Bureau at 909-620-2085.
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