The State of Nevada has approved a substantial wrongful death settlement amounting to $4.6 million to Annette Walker, mother of the late inmate Christian Walker, as disclosed by her attorney James Urrutia. This settlement acknowledges the grievous errors allegedly leading to Walker’s demise within the bounds of High Desert State Prison and is marked as the largest of its kind in Nevada’s history. The agreement was first mentioned at a Board of Examiners meeting and awaits official approval next month. Urrutia’s law office released a statement indicating the family’s commitment to pursuing full accountability by continuing legal action against Clark County following the state’s settlement.
Christian Walker, who was serving a sentence of 28 years to life, was discovered unresponsive on April 15, 2023, in his prison cell, subsequent to what has been suggested as an apparent beating by correctional officers two days prior—information that surfaced after 8 News Now Investigators acquired leaked photos and reports from which concerned sources denounced an alleged cover-up. “He was found naked, beaten up, bloody, and alone in a prison cell inside the infirmary at High Desert State Prison,” an excerpt from the lawsuit states. A subsequent FOX5 Vegas report alleged that correctional officers prevented medical staff from providing necessary care, ultimately resulting in Walker’s death while in solitary confinement.
The Clark County Coroner initially concluded that natural causes, primarily hypertensive cardiovascular disease, took Walker’s life, downplaying the blunt force trauma that was noted on his body—a conclusion at odds with forensic pathologist Dr. Larry Sims, who, according to an 8 News Now report, attributed Walker’s death to brain swelling caused by blunt head trauma resulting from an assault and called for ‘a complete re-evaluation of the circumstances of death, autopsy and autopsy documentation, neuropathology consultation report, medical records, all pertinent radiographs and evaluation of all tissue slides…