Charles Walker is scheduled to be executed in North Carolina on December 3 for the 1992 murder of Elmon Davidson. His conviction rests solely on the testimony of snitch testimony because authorities were unable to find Davidson’s body or any evidence linking Walker to the crime. Walker’s attorneys have asked North Carolina Governor Mike Easley to grant clemency for their client and to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole.

Walker was convicted on the testimony of five witnesses whose recollections of the crime were inconsistent and could not be corroborated through physical evidence. Rahshar Darden, a state witness who testified that he saw Walker fire the fatal shot that killed Davidson, admitted that he had shot the victim that day as well. Under a deal with prosecutors, Darden pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony. Two other witnesses testifying against Walker also pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and the remaining two witnesses were implicated in the crime but never charged. Stating that “real life is not (like the popular television program) CSI,” Guilford County Chief Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann noted that he prosecutes cases all of the time based on the testimony of eyewitnesses because it’s a rare case where there is physical evidence or a “smoking gun.” Walker was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic as a youth. (News & Record, November 23, 2004) Read the Press Release Issued by Defense Attorneys for Charles Walker.