Father guilty of killing drug dealer

[Swede]

A tearful Jadah Walker said yesterday her father, Kim Walker, will always be her hero after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of her drug-dealer boyfriend.

The verdict, which the defence plans to appeal, comes with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.

But Justice Jennifer Pritchard made Walker eligible for parole in a decade, the minimum time allowed, as recommended by the eight-woman, four-man jury.



http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=0efdad70-17c6-43d3-b556-4d9437b355b7

[mrcheerful]

1. But Justice Jennifer Pritchard made Walker eligible for parole in a decade, the minimum time allowed

Which means nothing because it stops being a matter of the court once said person becomes a ward of the state orfederal prison system. The people who decide how much time a prisoner serves is the parole board. Thats why in the good old US of A there are prisoners thats been sent in on a 2 year sentence ending up doing 5 years, its also the parole board who decides if a prisoner gets out early. The tough on crime BS means nothing, its parole boards that determine how much time a person actually does, the courts only sentence as a guideline.

[Madspirit]

11. ...an aside

**"Which means nothing because it stops being a matter of the court once said person becomes a ward of the state or federal prison system. The people who decide how much time a prisoner serves is the parole board.""**


This is really an aside but just sayin'...if you get Federal time there is no parole.
You get federal time, you do every second of the sentence.
Madspirit

[mrcheerful]

18. Ok, I had a federal con tell me he got out on a parole. But that still doesn't change how

state prisons sentencing works.

[Madspirit]

38. Your friend ...

either committed the crime over 20 years ago or they lied:

Under the federal criminal code, with respect to offenses committed after December 1, 1987, parole has been abolished for all sentences handed down by the federal system, including life sentences unless a pardon or reprieve is granted by the President.

Madspirit

[ohio2007]

2. I wonder if the dead drug dealer has "friends" in the prison her father

is headed for. If so, maybe he has been given a death sentence.

[brentspeak]

3. While the drug-dealer deserved to get shot, you shouldn't throw your own life away

by actually shooting him. There's plenty of better ways to get scum like drug dealers away from the public -- like locking them up and throwing away the key.

[ohio2007]

4. not enough room and board in the prison system to do that

and people hate the death penality yet drug dealing boyfriend is dead.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

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[CBGLuthier]

8. Such compassion

Come on now, the guy dealt to pay for his own habit. This isn't Mr. Big bringing in smack by the pound.

He had no excuse for killing this guy. He was not on drugs. He shot him so his fucked up daughter would stay away. Some how HIS daughter the drug addict's life was more valuable than the other addict.

He got what he deserved. Prison time for taking a life.

[blonndee]

10. "Deserved to get shot?" Is this DU? Is that a Jesus quote in your sig line?

:wtf:

[brentspeak]

14. I didn't say he should have gotten shot; I said he deserved to get shot -- but allowed to live

[blonndee]

15. Oh, that's much more progressive, then. n/t

[brentspeak]

16. I don't know what you think "progressive" is supposed to mean

But whatever it is, it sounds pretty limp. TR was a self-declared "progressive". FDR, in some ways, was a "progressive". When I think of the word "progressive" in the context of public policy, I think of those two presidents, and their efforts. Self-flagellating, "trying to understand the feelings of drug dealers" is not my idea of "progressivism".

[blonndee]

17. Declaring that an unarmed man "deserved to get shot"--now THAT's "limp"

progressivism. And poor Christianity, too.

I don't know where you got "trying to understand the feelings of drug dealers," unless you pulled it out of your ass and are trying to divert the discussion instead of defending what you said. I don't CARE about understanding this guy's feelings. As you well know, I'm responding to your declaration that he deserved to get shot. Who do you think you are? God?

edit spelling

[brentspeak]

19. I'm trying to figure something out: Why should I, or anyone else, care what you think?

[blonndee]

20. I don't give a fuck whether you care or not.

And BTW, I'm not the only one who's taken issue with your outrageous statement, which you have yet to defend.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[brentspeak]

33. Was this you who said the following: "He...should be taken out back and shot."

Yes or no?

notmypresident Donating Member (1000+ posts)

Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Tue Jul-11-06 03:23 PM
Response to Reply #14

28. nothing about that asshole was admirable

He (Marine 2LT Ilario Pentano) is a murdering, lieing, living monster who should be taken out back and shot.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1609579&mesg_id=1610483

[ProudDad]

29. Oh Right

how f*cking "christian" of you.

A Progressive response would be to get enough facts to understand the whole situation instead of allowing knees-to-jerk.

Every addict has some mitigating circumstance. Nearly every addict does terrible things to feed the addiction and is also redeemable.

But I guess you'd rather prescribe maiming for anyone unfortunate enough to get strung out, eh?

[brentspeak]

34. What part of "allowed to live" didn't you understand?

The English part?

[blonndee]

36. Careful, ProudDad, if you don't give him the right answer he might BLOCK you!

:rofl:

Edited to add: Don't you know that brentspeak, and brentspeak alone, has the right to decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die? Oh, and who just deserves to "get shot" (but not die, of course). :rofl:

Edited a second time to clarify: brentspeak blocked me...for no apparent reason than I disagreed with him and challenged him on his views. Ha!

[Madspirit]

12. ...gee...

Progressive NOT...and if you locked them all up, where would I get my pot?
Madspirit

[habitual]

5. not sure if you read the story

but this is a terrible crime, people can't just go around shooting people to solve problems.

Maybe some of the people that think he shouldn't be in jail can tell me what his victim did to deserve death. Cuz from me reading the story, seemed he was a drug user/seller and that was it. From what I read, the father made a very very serious mistake.

[High Plains]

6. A sad, sad story.

A young man with a drug problem is dead. I won't call him a scumbag.

A father who wanted to protect his daughter is going to prison. I won't call him a hero.

At least maybe the young woman will get her head screwed on straight now. I won't call her a victim.

[mikehiggins]

9. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime

This man may have felt justified in shooting the guy in what he thought was defense of his daughter but the reality is, at least IMHO, that he went there with a gun and the other guy got shot to death. Hardly seems accidental. He went there to confront these people and he took a gun with him to do it. The other guy apparently didn't have a weapon, at least according to the published report. Somebody got shot? Hardly a mystery.

I sympathise with the father--I have a son and daughter of my own--but sympathy doesn't change reality. If you confront an unarmed man with a handgun and shoot him to death, you have to expect to pay a price.

Canada makes a point of how it differs from the Wild West (or the modern USA). This is one of the differences, I think. Here in the States, with a good lawyer, this guy might easily have walked. As it is, he'll have to spend some time behind bars.

As an aside, since he is a welder he may find himself in a relatively good place in prison. A friend of mine was sent up for a long time, here in the US, and because he was a journeyman electrician he wound up being given a lot of priveleges and stuff that other guys could only dream of.

[ebayfool]

24. Parents can, sometimes, go a little crazy trying to 'save' their addict kids.

Been there - done that.

It's not excusing this father, just saying I reached the lowest & most 'insane' points of my life w/my oldest daughter when she was using.

And though I didn't pick up a gun, the thought DID occur & have to be fought away.

Made a number of contacts w/the local narc squad, as well. When they realized that I wasn't going to go away, they assured me that if I was killed while going into the 'current' dealer's homes to get my grandson out ... they would use the opportunity to bust the occupants. Made the dealers she used so pissed at having me at their door & cops waiting on the street out front that she finally ran out of easy-to-score contacts.

It's harder to judge when people haven't watched their own kids deteriorate.

For myself, I finally had to admit that it was up to her to save herself. All I could do was try to keep my grandson safe. She gave him up in exchange for me agreeing to quit siccing the law on her then dealer/boyfriend - something that, to this day, she hasn't been able to face & come to terms with. She's clean & living the life of a 'soccer mom' w/2 daughters she's had since then - but the boy is still living w/me. His choice, but one that she hasn't/won't try to change because she can't face/answer him on the hard questions that he has tried to ask. And it's a damned shame - he's grown to be quite a fine young man.

But I clearly remember that I was hovering on the boundary between sane & ape-shit crazy ... ready to do anything - ANY THING - to try to get her back.

It would have taken such a small step to cross that line.

[ProudDad]

30. Did you have a gun at the time

If not, damn good thing.

[ebayfool]

32. No, but access isn't a problem in this country. Like I said, it was lowest & most 'insane' point ...

I had ever reached. What I was tempted to do, & what this father DID do, was so wrong. Luckily, sanity prevailed. (BTW, I wasn't sure who I wanted to use it on most - the dealers or me. 'Me' was leading.) Lack of access had little to do w/it - reminding myself that I would be useless for my other daughter & my grandson if I was dead or in prison was the key to pulling away from that precipice.

I'm NOT putting forth any kind of defense for the father here, just saying that I recognize the extreme pressures that addiction puts on the whole family unit - not just the addict themselves. The young man that was killed in the OP had a mother, too. I feel for her anguish for her son as much as for the parents of the daughter. Everybody loses. Far too much.

[CHIMO]

13. Brother of victim in Sask. murder case lashes out at media

YORKTON, SASK. — The younger brother of a man shot dead by his girlfriend's father lashed out Thursday night at the way his sibling has been portrayed in the media as a drug dealer while the father has been held up as a hero.

Danny Hayward, 22, said all the good memories he has of his brother, James Hayward, have been tainted by the actions of Kim Walker, who is on trial for first-degree murder in the 2003 shooting.

“I think it's despicable the way this community has turned Kim Walker into some kind of small-town hero,” Mr. Hayward said.

“Every time I turn on the TV and see the news, all I hear is ‘drug dealer this' and ‘drug house that' and that is not the case here.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070118.wyorkton0119/BNStory/National

[tchunter]

21. some of these responses are sickening

i'd expect to see this type of shit on other message boards but here i think DU has hit a low, only allah (the merciful and compassionate) or god, or FSM has the right to decide who lives and who dies, vigilante justice is never acceptable and despite him being a drug dealer he was still a human being

[blonndee]

23. Thankfully, only one DUer has sunk to that "low" on this thread.

I completely agree with you.

[Nevernever]

22. From the same Grope & Flail article:

“I am going to shoot the owner of my local liquor store now, before my alcoholic mom can buy any more booze,” wrote one blogger who goes by the handle Lurkerguy.

I find it incredibly discouraging to see how addicts requiring treatment are so often treated as criminals to be incarcerated in North America, as opposed to their treatment in more enlightened nations like Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The War on Drugs is nothing but a hoax guaranteed to keep oversubsudizing Big Pharma, Big Oil and Big Forest, period. Unfortunately, there is so much misinformation and outright lies published by world governments that this point gets lost or filed as a "conspiracy theory."

Legalize Marijuana and save the world!!!

[ProudDad]

31. Decriminalize ALL drugs

and save the world!!!

And this is from a person who's VERY active in the recovery community. I lead meetings. I'm on the board of directors of a major recovery non-profit.

The greatest enemy of recovery is the current draconian response to addiction in this sick-addicted country...

[pitohui]

26. no humans involved

it isn't very highly evolved of me but they all sound like losers as far as i'm concerned

[High Plains]

37. Ah, the pitiless pitohui

At least he/she's consistent.

[pitohui]

39. i know but jeebus

everybody involved just sounds like total trash, the drug dealer, the trashy drug addict daughter mixed up with the drug dealer, and the gun-totin' dad

i guess i feel sorry for the moms of the young people but the main characters sound totally like people i go out of my way not to know

[ret5hd]

40. As opposed to those like ProudDad, who goes out of their way TO know...

them, and then, speaking as a person who DOES know them, thinks they are very human.

You never surprise me.

[ProudDad]

28. There are two sides to every story

For the blood-thirsty among you who assume the person this man murdered "deserved it":

"But Hayward's family and friends paint a different picture of a kind man who shared with Jadah Walker a debilitating morphine addiction - and never had a chance to turn his life around.

They've been troubled by the local support the Walkers received, and what they saw as a demonization of Hayward in the media because he sold marijuana and had a trafficking conviction.

While the Crown had asked for a verdict of first-degree murder, meaning the killing was planned and deliberate, Hayward family members said they believed justice had been done and expressed relief Walker was not found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

But his mother, Lorrie Getty, of Moose Jaw, Sask., said it was neither justice nor revenge she truly wanted. "I just want James back," she told reporters.

Defence lawyer Morris Bodnar told reporters he would file an appeal as soon as he can, with one basis being that Pritchard did not allow Walker to claim self-defence. He also claimed she erred by instructing the jury that acquittal was not an option.

Pritchard yesterday rejected Bodnar's call for a mistrial.

The shooting followed months of growing concern over Jadah's health and behaviour, culminating in an anonymous letter telling the Walkers she and Hayward were injecting morphine.

On RCMP advice, the couple had Jadah committed under a Mental Health Act warrant for a weekend assessment of her drug problem at the Yorkton hospital's psychiatric ward.

On the Monday of her release, she was picked up by friends and reunited with Hayward at the house where they lived.

Walker then went there with a Luger M80 semi-automatic pistol. After asking a resistant Jadah to come home, he shot Hayward.

Walker has said he didn't intend to kill him. He testified he remembers only "flashes" of the incident and nothing of the actual shooting.

After the verdict was read yesterday, Pritchard appeared to accept the characterization of the welder and father of three put forward by the defence.

She said he may well have believed that killing Hayward was his only option to save Jadah - but he was terribly wrong.

"You were a desperate man," she said. "In saving your daughter, you wrongfully and unnecessarily took the life of another human being."

----------------------------

Sound like another YAHOO with a f*ckin gun!!! He was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG...