The Daily Oklahoman
Thursday, November 7, 1996
Federal Jury Clears Sheriff on 8 Counts
By Jean Pagel
Associated Press Writer
TULSA – Ottawa County Sheriff James “Ed” Walker’s gambling trial ended Wednesday with the suspended incumbent being found innocent on eight counts.
The federal jury deadlocked on four other charges in a case that defense attorneys described as a frame up.
“There was never no doubt in my mind that I was innocent,” Walker said. “There were too many people who thought all along that this was political.”
Walker, 48, was acquitted of two counts of extortion, four counts of aiding illegal gambling businesses and two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
U.S. District Judge H. Dale Cook declared a mistrial on four remaining counts and one conspiracy count.
“It was perfectly clear there was no extortion,” Said defense attorney Chad Richardson.
U.S. Attorney Steve Lewis left the courtroom without talking to reporters.
Walker said he wants his job back for the remaining two months of his term. He did not run for re-election this year, and Miami, OK, gas station owner Jack Harkins was elected Tuesday to succeed him.
The first-term sheriff is on paid suspension.
Jurors spent most of Wednesday sorting through testimony from gambling machine vendors and nightclub owners. Deliberations began Tuesday.
Walker was indicted in May as part of a state and federal investigation that led to indictments against 20 other people. Many of them pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution.
In closing arguments Tuesday, Lewis told the jury that Walker went into business with those gambling operators in northeastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas.
But defense attorney Gary Richardson claimed Walker was the first sheriff in Miami to crack down on gambling. That is why the vendors and bar owners were eager to testify against him, he said.
“They could retry him on the four counts, but I’d sure be surprised if they did,” Gary Richardson said.
Lewis said the evidence showed 253 long-distance telephone conversations between Walker and gambling machine distributors, frequent meetings with gambling figures in Ottawa County and that Walker used his influence to attempt to have more gambling machines put into clubs.
“The crooks in this case are summed up in three words, James Ed Walker,” Lewis said.
The government presented nearly two weeks of testimony, mostly from gambling machine vendors and club owners who alleged Walker took 10 percent of their proceeds in exchange for a promise of protection from prosecution.
Five counts of the indictment accused him of extorting payments out of men allegedly running illegal gambling businesses in northeast Oklahoma and Missouri.
Four counts of the indictment say Walker aided and abetted the operation of those illegal sites. Three counts accused Walker of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Walker faced up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of five extortion counts. Each of the other seven counts could have resulted in five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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