Overview
- Dallas County commissioners unanimously passed a symbolic resolution declaring Walker innocent of the 1953 rape and murder of Venice Parker.
- The Dallas District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit, with the Innocence Project and Northeastern University, found misleading or withheld evidence and pervasive racial bias.
- Investigators said Dallas police Captain Will Fritz used threats and deception to obtain statements, and witnesses disputed a claim that the victim identified her attacker.
- Ten witnesses testified that Walker was at a hospital for his son’s birth during the attack, yet an all-white jury convicted him in 1954 and he was executed in 1956.
- Walker’s son and Parker’s son met at the hearing and embraced, as officials emphasized the resolution’s accountability purpose rather than a legal vacatur or compensation.