Court Will Appoint 2 Attorneys for Ex-Navy Officer in Spy Case
U.S. Magistrate Gilbert Swink today said he will appoint two attorneys to defend former Navy officer Arthur Walker, who is accused with his brother and a nephew of spying for the Soviet Union.
Walker, shackled by handcuffs and leg irons, was escorted into the Norfolk federal court building by U.S. marshals for the brief appearance. He told the magistrate he cannot afford a lawyer and Swink said he would appoint two.
John Walker, 47, and his son Michael Walker, 22, a seaman from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Nimitz, have been indicted on six counts of espionage.
Arthur Walker, John’s 50-year-old brother and an engineer for a Chesapeake, Va., defense contractor, was arraigned on similar charges last week.
Meanwhile, a Navy buddy of John Walker said the accused spy “probably cussed communists more than most sailors.”
Bill Wilkinson, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, said he and Walker served on the submarine Simon Bolivar from 1965 to 1967. He showed a photograph of himself, a balding, mustached man he identified as Walker and other shipmates in a submarine control room.
Walker was a “regular old sailor who’d go out, drink beer and cuss communists,” Wilkinson said.
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