Marine removed from death row, gets new trial

[unhappycamper]

Marine removed from death row, gets new trial
By Bryan Mitchell - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 24, 2008 18:10:58 EST

A former lance corporal sentenced to death for murdering two Marines in 1992 will get a new trial for one of the crimes.

Pvt. Wade Walker was convicted at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in July 1993 for the March 1992 murders of two lance corporals in nearby Jacksonville, N.C. The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals set aside his death sentence this past summer and ordered a new trial for one of the cases, said 1st Lt. Patrick Boyce, a spokesman at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.

Attempts to reach Walker’s lead military defense attorney were unsuccessful.

The new trial will begin with a fresh Article 32 hearing — the military’s equivalent of a grand jury hearing — some time next year. While the murder charge appears on the Quantico legal docket, it’s unclear where the hearing will be held, Boyce said.

Walker and former Lance Cpl. Kenneth G. Parker were found guilty of murdering Lance Cpl. Rodney L. Page with a 12-gauge shotgun, and then murdering Lance Cpl. Christopher Q. James with the same weapon four days later. Walker was also found guilty of robbery, adultery and kidnapping, according to court documents.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/11/marine_newtrial2_112408w/%2e