Family of innocent man will receive nearly $500,000.
In 2005, LAPD officers brought in Michael Walker on suspicion of robbery. Walker, a homeless 49-year-old ex-felon with alcoholic addiction issues, waived his rights to an attorney and agreed to an interview with police. He also gave his consent for a police search of his belongs.
No evidence linking Walker to the robberies was found, but since Walker generally matched the description of the perpetrator, and had been brought to police attention by a clerk at one of the robbed businesses, he was arrested anyway.
The string of demand-note robberies continued after Walker’s arrest. However, the detectives in charge of the case did not let Walker go. Instead, they continued building a case against him, even after another man, Stanley Smith, confessed to the robberies. Not only did the detectives in the case fail to inform the prosecutor of Smith’s confession, they actually falsely claimed in police reports that the robberies had stopped after Walker’s arrest. In reality, the robberies only stopped after Smith’s arrest.
After much effort, Walker’s public defender was able to obtain evidence proving Walker’s innocence, namely prints from one of Walker’s alleged crime scenes that actually belonged to Smith. A judge declared Walker factually innocent and the charges against him were dropped, but by this time he had already been imprisoned for 27 months.
Upon his release, Walker sued the city of LA and the detectives on his case for violating his rights. A jury agreed that the detectives had withheld and concealed evidence that indicated Walker’s innocence in shameless display of reckless disregard for Walker’s rights. They ordered the city to pay Walker $106,000 in damages along with almost $400,000 to cover his legal fees.
The decision was appealed by the city, and recently the appeal decision came down in favor of the original judgment. According to Walker’s attorney, the award will now be closer to $500,000 due to legal fees related to the appeal.
Sadly, Walker passed away three years ago from complications related to his alcoholism. The award will benefit his family.
This case highlights the fact that the police are by no means infallible. It is incumbent upon every criminal defense attorney to scrutinize the evidence gathered by the police as well as the methods used to gather it. It is heartening to see that the public defender in this case was able to fight for Walker; however public defenders do not always have the ability to put in such effort due to overwork. It is important to hire your own criminal defense attorney whenever possible for the best help building a strong defense against any kind of charges.
