Additional Coverage:
- Texas posthumously exonerates Tommy Lee Walker, executed 70 years prior for rape and murder of White woman (foxnews.com)
Dallas County Righting Wrongs: Posthumous Exoneration Nearly 70 Years Later
Dallas County officials have taken a significant step toward rectifying a historical injustice, formally exonerating Tommy Lee Walker, a Black man executed almost 70 years ago after being wrongfully convicted of rape and murder. The decision, spearheaded by Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, acknowledges Walker’s innocence and highlights a deeply flawed legal process from the mid-20th century.
On Wednesday, District Attorney Creuzot presented a resolution to county commissioners, urging them to officially recognize Walker’s innocence. This move comes after a thorough review by the Dallas County DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit, which uncovered critical details: Walker’s confession was coerced, and he was convicted by an all-White jury.
The case, the oldest assigned to the Conviction Integrity Unit, dates back to 1953. At just 19 years old, Tommy Lee Walker was accused of the rape and murder of Venice Parker, a 31-year-old White woman. The tragic incident occurred as Parker was returning home from work.
However, key details from the time painted a different picture. On the night of the killing, Walker was with his then-girlfriend, Mary Louise Smith, who was nine months pregnant.
Witnesses corroborated his alibi, placing him three miles from the crime scene. Notably, Walker’s son was born the very next day.
The original investigation was riddled with questionable practices. Hundreds of Black men were questioned solely based on their race.
Walker himself was subjected to hours of interrogation without legal counsel, reportedly threatened with the death penalty if he didn’t confess. While he eventually signed a confession, he almost immediately recanted it.
Crucially, no other evidence linked him to the crime.
Further compounding the injustice, the prosecution allowed misleading evidence and, in an extraordinary move, the prosecutor himself took the stand to declare Walker guilty. “I feel that I have been tricked out of my life,” Walker expressed during his sentencing hearing. He was executed by electric chair on May 12, 1956, at the age of 21.
District Attorney Creuzot, in a statement, affirmed that “In observance of the constitutional rights afforded to all citizens and in consideration of newly available scientific evidence, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office could not and would not have prosecuted Tommy Lee Walker for the rape and murder of Venice Lorraine Parker.” His office, with assistance from the Innocence Project, re-examined the case after Walker’s son, Ted Smith, brought it to their attention.
Ted Smith, now 72, delivered poignant testimony at his father’s posthumous exoneration hearing. He recounted his mother’s enduring grief and his father’s final words, “You give me the chair that belongs to someone else.
I am innocent.” For Smith, this exoneration “means the world.”
The resolution passed by the county emphasizes its “moral obligation to acknowledge the injustice surrounding the conviction of Tommy Lee Walker, confront history, and affirm Dallas County’s commitment to justice for all persons, whether living or deceased. … [J]ustice has no statute of limitations.”
In a powerful moment of reconciliation, Joseph Parker, Venice Parker’s 77-year-old son, also attended the hearing. He embraced Ted Smith, offering an apology for the loss of his father, underscoring the profound and lasting impact of this decades-old tragedy.