The State - News from Aug. 26, 1988

Former Arkansas Death Row inmate James Dan Walker was acquitted of drug charges by a South Lake Tahoe Superior Court jury. Walker, 47, was charged in 1963 with killing a North Little Rock, Ark., police officer. He was convicted and sentenced to die, but won a retrial and received a life sentence. In 1975, he escaped and fled to South Lake Tahoe, where he lived under an assumed name. In 1979, he was arrested on drug charges. Walker fought extradition, saying prison authorities would conspire to take his life. He was returned to Arkansas, but won a new trial in 1985 on grounds that perjury had been committed during his first two trials. In 1986, he pleaded no contest to manslaughter and was released because the 18 years he already had served exceeded the 10-year sentence. Arrested in South Lake Tahoe last year, Walker said he had been unable to find work because of his record and sold cocaine to an undercover drug agent while under personal and financial pressure.