Escapee Can Try to Void Extradition

A Superior Court judge on Friday ordered a Los Angeles man who escaped from Georgia prison nearly 30 years ago to turn himself into authorities “within a reasonable time.”

Judge Henry Barela told Timothy Lamar Walton’s lawyer, who is fighting Walton’s extradition to Georgia, to return to court with a progress report on Sept. 7.

Ludlow B. Creary, Walton’s attorney, said that in the meantime his client intends to appeal to officials in Georgia in an attempt to have them drop the case..

“I’m very happy that Judge Barela had the wisdom and compassion to do what he did today,” Creary said. “Now the fight is in Georgia.”

Walton, 49, was incarcerated in 1971 for robbing $11 from a movie theater at gunpoint. He and about 20 inmates escaped a Georgia prison about a year later during a riot.

Walton was on the run until 1975, when he turned himself in to California officials. Then-Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally refused to extradite him back to Georgia.

Walton was recently stopped by officers who ran a background check and found that he was a fugitive. Georgia officials said they wanted him back in prison.