Texas man Tommy Lee Walker exonerated of Venice Parker rape, homicide 70 years after his execution

Practically 70 years after the state of Texas put him to dying, Dallas County officers formally exonerated Tommy Lee Walker, a 21-year-old Black man executed two years after being wrongfully convicted of the rape and homicide of a White lady.

Dallas County District Legal professional John Creuzot on Wednesday requested commissioners to signal a decision acknowledging Walker’s innocence after discovering he was coerced right into a confession and convicted by an all-White jury.

The case, the oldest assigned to the Dallas County DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit, concerned Walker, a 19-year-old accused of raping and murdering Venice Parker, a 31-year-old White lady, on her manner dwelling from work in 1953.

On the night time of the killing, Walker was visiting his girlfriend, Mary Louise Smith, who was 9 months preg­nant, based on the Demise Penalty Data Heart (DPI).

Although witnesses confirmed he was with Smith, he was prosecuted for the homicide, which occurred 3 miles throughout city, FOX 4 Dallas reported.

Walker’s son was born the day after the killing on Oct. 1.

A number of witnesses testified Parker was unable to talk after the assault attributable to a gash in her neck. Nonetheless, one police officer claimed she described her attacker as a Black man, based on the DPI.

Throughout a assessment of the case, the district legal professional’s workplace realized a whole lot of Black males have been questioned in regards to the killing, solely based mostly on their race.

Walker was allegedly interrogated for hours with­out an attor­ney, and authorities instructed him he would face the dying penal­ty until he con­fessed, based on the DPI. 

Walker signed a con­fes­sion however virtually imme­di­ate­ly recant­ed. There was no oth­er proof towards him. 

Officers additionally mentioned the state allowed deceptive proof throughout the trial, and the prosecutor took the stand himself as a witness and instructed the jury Walker was responsible, based on FOX 4.

“I really feel that I have been tricked out of my life,” Walker mentioned at his sen­tenc­ing hear­ing.

Walker was executed by an electrical chair Might 12, 1956, at 21 years previous.

“In observance of the constitutional rights afforded to all residents and in consideration of newly obtainable scientific proof, the Dallas County District Legal professional’s Workplace couldn’t and wouldn’t have prosecuted Tommy Lee Walker for the rape and homicide of Venice Lorraine Parker,” Creuzot wrote in a press release.

Creuzot mentioned his workplace dove into the case with help from the Innocence Mission after Walker’s son, his solely dwelling descendant, introduced it to their consideration.

Walker’s son, Ted Smith, 72, gave testimony at his father’s posthumous exoneration, noting his moth­er nev­er recov­ered after the exe­cu­tion.

“He instructed my mom and she or he instructed me. He mentioned, ‘You give me the chair that belongs to another person. I’m harmless.’ That’s the very last thing my mom instructed me,” Ted Smith instructed FOX 4. “This exoneration means the world to me.”

The decision said the county “deems it a ethical oblig­a­tion to acknowl­edge the injus­tice sur­spherical­ing the con­vic­tion of Tommy Lee Walker, con­entrance his­to­ry, and affirm Dallas County’s com­mit­ment to jus­tice for all per­sons, whether or not liv­ing or deceased. … [J]ustice has no statute of limitations.”

Parker’s son, Joseph Parker, 77, additionally attended the listening to, hugging Smith and apologizing for the lack of his father.