Texas Black man is exonerated 70 years after execution

Dallas officials and outside groups reviewed the 1953 case of Tommy Lee Walker and concluded his conviction was based on false or misleading evidence and racial bias. County commissioners unanimously passed a symbolic resolution declaring he was wrongfully convicted and executed.

Officials in Dallas have issued a formal declaration that Tommy Lee Walker, a Black man executed in Texas in 1956, was wrongfully convicted in the 1953 killing of 31-year-old Venice Parker. The Dallas county district attorney's office conducted an extensive review with assistance from the Innocence Project of New York and Northeastern University School of Law's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. The review identified serious problems in the original prosecution, including disputed witness statements and a confession produced during coercive interrogation by a police captain. Walker was tried by an all-white jury in 1954 during the Jim Crow era. What officials reported: - The DA's review concluded the prosecution relied on misleading and inadmissible evidence, including a police claim about the victim's identification of her attacker. - Walker, who was 19 when arrested months after the attack, was executed in May 1956 following his conviction. - The review found that Walker's confession was obtained after threatening and coercive interrogation by Captain Will Fritz, and defense witnesses said Walker was at a hospital at the time of the attack. - Dallas county commissioners unanimously passed a symbolic resolution declaring Walker was wrongfully convicted and executed and described the case as a profound miscarriage of justice. Summary: The county's formal finding recognizes that the conviction of Tommy Lee Walker was affected by false or problematic evidence and racial injustice, and it highlighted investigative and legal work by outside groups and journalists. Officials recorded the wrongful conviction with a unanimous symbolic resolution. Undetermined at this time.