Charles Walker (Georgia politician)
Charles W. Walker Sr. (born November 8, 1947) is a former state senator in the legislature of the state of Georgia. He was first elected in 1990. In 1996, he became Georgia's first African-American Senate Majority Leader. Walker is a Democrat and is from Augusta, Georgia.
Walker owned a myriad of small enterprises under the name The Walker Group. One of Walker's first ventures was a convenience store called "Reklaw's", which is Walker spelled backwards.
Walker started a newspaper called The Augusta Focus that served Augusta's black community. It often expressed opposing viewpoints to Augusta's only daily newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle.
Convicted in 2005 by a federal court in Augusta on charges including tax evasion, mail fraud, theft, misusing campaign funds, and conspiracy (127 counts, in all),[1][2][3] Walker was serving a ten-year sentence at a Federal Correctional Institution in Estill, South Carolina. His projected release date was September 26, 2022.[4]
An appeal of his convictions was rejected on July 6, 2007.[5][6]
Walker filed a petition for habeas corpus in March 2009. The federal judge who presided over his trial recused himself from presiding over Walker's petition in May 2009.[1]
Walker was released from custody in late 2016.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Walker judge recuses himself". The Augusta Chronicle. May 20, 2009.
- ^ a b "Charles Walker gets early release from federal probation". The Augusta Chronicle. November 1, 2016.
- ^ Susan McCord (December 17, 2013). "Ex-state Sen. Charles Walker being moved from federal prison". augustachronicle.com.
- ^ "Inmate Locator - Locate Federal inmates from 1982 to present". Federal Bureau of Prisons.
- ^ U.S. v. Walker Archived May 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (11th Cir. 2007).
- ^ "Charles Walker Reports to Prison". Wrdw.com. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
- 1947 births
- Living people
- Georgia (U.S. state) Democrats
- African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Georgia (U.S. state) state senators
- Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud
- American people convicted of tax crimes
- Georgia (U.S. state) politicians convicted of crimes
- 21st-century American politicians
- Politicians from Augusta, Georgia